Dignity of a Criminal
by AmenToTheMangaBible11
Summary: Both are undercover in the Akatsuki, both are risking their lives to protect Konoha, and both are now under the same orders to bring the missing Uzumaki heir back after he's kidnapped. It's too bad they really don't know they're allies and that the people around them from both sides are manipulating the ending. Criminals really have no dignity when crime happens this way. AU.
1. Living Life

**Disclaimer:** I don't own any part of Naruto, nor any of its characters. I just own the plot and a little Shikamaru plushy... And maybe a Gaara poster or two. You get the point! A/N at the bottom. Enjoy!

Dignity of a Criminal

Chapter 1

Hinata tried to keep her eyes on the road as she fought off sleep. Her boot forced the pedal to the floor and her hands held the steering wheel so tightly that the leather groaned in protest. The mustang's headlights cut through the darkness of the high way. She relaxed her white knuckles and flicked at the cruise control a few times until she successfully hit it in the dark. She turned her head to peer into the back seat, but a bump in the asphalt forced her eyes back to the road. Blue and red lights flashed in her rear-view mirror and her scowl deepened.

"I don't have time for this!" She slammed on the brakes and swerved violently to the right side of the road.

"God woman, be a little more gentle would you!" The man beside her had one hand clutching his arm rest and the other holding tight to his head rest. She almost laughed at the look of outright discomfort on his face, it being the only expression she'd seen on his face, but she swallowed her laughter in light of their situation.

Hinata dug her fake license out from inside her bag and attempted to pull her stolen outfit back into place. She was positive that she looked a mess, and there was little to no hope for the once perfect make up that was caked lightly to her skin. One of her blue contacts may even be missing.

"Alright, alright. You've primped enough and you still look like crap. Who're you tryin' to impress?" His southern drawl was thick, but easily understandable. The red head threw his arm over the back of her chair, and his green eyes widened. "You might want to start the engine Princess, cause that ain't a cop."

"What are you talking about? Of course it is-not! Gunning it! Hold on! If you fly out the window I'm not going back for you." Hinata floored the gas and the tires fought for traction on the rain slicked asphalt. The 'cop' was chasing after them, and at least three gunshots hit the back of the car, but plenty of bullets whizzed past the vehicle; the guy sure was packing heavy.

Hinata glanced at the red head in the passenger seat, who's face was slowly turning a green that matched his heavily hooded eyes, then flicked her gaze back to the road. She worried her lower lip between her teeth, perfectly aware that Gaara was staring. A thump from the back seat caught her attention.

"Guy hit the floor. Don't worry Hina, I'll get him up." Gaara undid his seat belt with slightly shaking fingers and jumped over the middle separator of the front seats, managing to only bump his head once in the short vehicle; Hinata was impressed until she realized he'd called her Hina.

She heard his voice from the back seat, grumbling to himself in what must have been Spanish, but with his horrible accent sounded butchered and Americanized despite his fluent knowledge of the language, and then saw a flash of short, spiky blonde hair that was slowly being stained red in her mirrors. She groaned. Blood was going to be way too much of a hassle to get out of her carpets.

. . . . .

Heels were Satin's version of a practical joke, or maybe they were just his way of saying he was a sexist sadist. Whatever they were, Hinata was sure by the end of the night that she would be happy to slap the devil shoes-6 inch high, sparkly, pink hooker heels-into a box with no return address on an express way to Hell.

She sat down behind the bar and flipped open her cell phone, peering over the screen to the table across the room where a group of rowdy men were sloshing beer from their mugs to the floor. A grimace overtook the plastic smile that had been on her face for the past hour; she'd be the one to clean that up if her plan didn't work out. She looked back down to the out dated cell phone screen, then let out a huff of air.

She'd been undercover for two weeks, and she'd finally found her target. She shot off a quick text to her partner, who she was sure was just around the block in some kind of vehicle that he deemed 'inconspicuous', but in reality, was bound to get him robbed on any street he parked on. She stood up, her feet already throbbing with the effort of not wobbling, put her tray back on her shoulder, and did her best to pull her 'uniform's' miniskirt down as far as she could without flashing anybody. She refilled a few of the chilled mugs she'd pulled from the mini fridge under the stained bar and headed towards the men; she was going for the one in glasses.

She could tell his hair was greasy from across the room, and as she got closer, it became even harder to not notice the man's overall lack of hygene. 'Drug lords', was the first thing that crossed her mind, then 'Men' quickly followed. His silver hair was slicked back into a pony tail, and a few limp strands fell down around his face, framing the round glasses that kept sliding down his nose. She stopped next to the table and set the tray down in front of him; he smirked up at her while he pushed his glasses back up his nose.

"On the house, handsome," Hinata almost choked, almost. Her smile faltered just slightly from a megawatt to a kilowatt as she watched a drop of, what she prayed to God was hair gel, drip from his bangs down to mix with the beer and drool on the table. His skin was a sickening white behind his overly large frames, and the hollows of his cheeks almost appeared bruised in the dim lighting of what passed for a restaurant in this part of Konoha, but his eyes, his eyes were alive and swimming with intelligence. Hinata winked at him, and fought the urge to shudder when he licked his lips.

"Why don't you stay and play a while, baby. We were just talking about you." His very voice grated on her nerves. His speech was slurred, and the first thought the man conjured in her mind was Snake.

Her mission was to infiltrate, inspect, and remove by force. She ran through her checklist in her mind. Infiltrate; she subconsciously fingered the hem of her cutoff shirt that stopped just above her pierced naval; check. Inspect; she watched as the tall male beside her snake-like suspect emptied an entire pill bottle of what appeared to be illegal muscle stimulants into his mug; check. Separate by force; now this was going to be fun.

"I'll just take you boys up on that offer." She swung a chair around and planted her rear to it rather ungracefully. She swung her leg up so her calf was level with his face, and slowly rolled her ankle. "Heels are killer on a woman." She dragged her foot slowly back to her, scraping the top of her shoe on the underside of her suspects' chin, and slid her leg down his chest, smooth as liquid. She prided herself when she didn't flinch when he slid her fingers down her calf as she pulled it back to herself. She crossed her legs daintily. "So, are you gonna tell me the name of such a handsome young man?" She slipped into a more relaxed posture, allowing her shirt to reveal just a bit more to the man before her. She slid her hand onto his thigh and started drawing circles with her thumb.

"Name's Kabuto, but you can call me anything you feel like, baby doll." Kabuto slid his arm around her shoulders, pressing his fingers to the exposed side of her breast. 'Gotcha, you're definitely my man.' He leaned in and placed a wet kiss to her neck; she bit her lip to keep from screaming. She slid her hand up his side and to his neck, and quickly pressure pointed him. She watched with a smile as he fell to the ground beside his comrades, who just laughed with jeers of 'lightweight' and cat calls aimed in her direction. She pulled her phone out and dialed speed dial 7.

"Yo. Yeah, it's me Hinata. We got him. 'Kay. Bye Sasuke." She slammed her phone shut, and strutted to the front door. She held it open as a full police squad rushed in, hand cuffed the unconscious man, the tall muscle-head, Jugo, and the smaller shark-like man with the pointed teeth, Suigetsu, and watched with glee as they were less than gently thrown against the car windows and read their rights.

"Good job partner, but you may want to wipe the slobber from your neck some time soon before it starts attracting flies." Sasuke's voice rang out from behind her, and she spun around quickly to greet it. "Hey, when did that happen?" She followed his line of view, and fingered her belly button piercing self-consciously.

"About 6 years ago now, so when I was 17. I lost a bet." He held his jacket out to her, which she gladly took and wrapped around her shoulders. "What would I do without you, bro?"

"I'm not your bro," He paused to stick his tongue out at her, "but you'd be stuck watching your chick flicks by yourself on those lonely Friday nights." Sasuke took a deep breath once they'd left the bar's parking lot, pausing only for a moment while Hinata gave a brief report to the on-site 'Head Honcho' as she'd called the man, Shino, once he'd turned his back.

"You know, you should dress like that more often." He winked at her, and she feigned a gasp.

"But Sasuke dearest, I thought you were gay!" She slapped him lightly on the chest, then stopped beside the black ferari to her right.

"You know very well I'm just pretty, not gay." He raised an eyebrow, and threw her a questioning glance. "How'd you know that was my car?" Hinata just rolled her eyes.

. . . . .

Hinata slammed the car door shut once her feet were firmly placed on the concrete sidewalk. She waited until Sasuke had rounded the back of the car and locked it before she slipped her elbow around his and set off up the drive way to their house. Sasuke was the first one up the stairs of the porch, mainly because Hinata had stopped at the bottom of them to wrench the heels from her feet, so he unlocked the door and held it open for the sore young woman. He bowed with grandeur when she stepped over the threshold, to which she rolled her eyes and blushed brightly.

"You're such a geek Sasuke. You know that right?"

Sasuke almost looked hurt, but his look quickly turned to one of false indignation. "How could you say such a thing? I am the most handsome and sexy male to ever walk the planet. I don't know how you've resisted me all these years Hi-na-ta."

Hinata laughed openly and shoved him towards the stairs to the second floor. "It's because I've known you for all these years." She stuck her tongue out at him and crossed her arms over her chest. Sasuke started up the stairs to his half of the shared home, calling out a 'You know you want me, you can't resist this forever!' from his place in the stairwell. "Yeah right. When that happens, you can call my father and tell him I want to move back in with him to help run the accounting business with Neji!"

Hinata laughed to herself as she shuffled to through the kitchen, past her bedroom, and to the bathroom where she planned to use the paint scraper on her face to remove all the make up she had on. She dropped Sasuke's jacket in the laundry basket in the hall before she stepped into the cubicle of a bathroom and prepared herself for damage control. She slowly turned to the mirror, and had to catch herself on the hanging towel rack.

A hooker. That's what she'd seen in the mirror, and that is something she'd never want to be seen as. She reeked of smoke and booze, and in an instant, she'd torn her clothing off and breezed into the shower, not even waiting for the water to heat up before she'd stepped under it and started rubbing her skin raw. The fake spray tan was the first to go.

. . . . .

God, she felt good. She lay back farther on her bed and pushed the book down closer to her face to block out the light of her small bedside lamp. She listened to the soft sound of Sasuke moving around his room on the second floor. A small smile lit up her pale face as she thought of him. Best friends since elementary school, trusted companion through junior high, and practically her legal guardian in high school. They'd been friends for as long as she could care to remember, and as far as she knew, it'd stay that way. Now they were partners in crime, crime stopping that is. He'd been on the force for a year longer than she had, due to the one year age difference, but now that she'd graduated school and finished all of her training for her recent promotion, they were partners. Of course they were part of a larger team, but the two of them worked together without a team better, so she usually just stuck to him if she could. Tons of fond memories with the man, even if she still considered him a kid. She couldn't believe how much she missed having to take care of him sometimes, but then he'd open his mouth and she wouldn't miss it quite so much anymore.

"Go to bed Sasuke!" Hinata threw her book up at the ceiling, rewarding herself with a loud thump on the plaster and then silence from above.

"Shuddup Hina, I'm workin' on it!" Sasuke yelled from above. She doubled over on her bed, her sides aching from laughing so hard, and she mentally patted herself on the back. Only she could get him to loosen up like that, or to talk so freely. It felt nice, and it almost made her feel powerful, but then she'd laugh at herself, because it really didn't. He was always such a stiff whenever they went anywhere. She flicked the switch on her lamp and lay her head back on her pillow, not even bothering to get under the sheets.

The shuffling of feet finally stopped when she heard the squeaking of bed springs and a gentle thunk. "He jumped into bed." There was a loud crash, followed by a stream of what she was sure were swear words, and then a loud 'Sorry!' floated down the stairs. "He tried to turn the light switch off with his boot again. What a child." The neighbor's dog started barking angrily from across the alley, most likely from all the racket. She turned onto her side with a chuckle. "Good night, Sasuke." She whispered into her pillow.

. . . . .

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up, Hinata! Come on! Wake up, wake up, wake up-" Hinata punched whoever it was that was yelling in her face at, she glanced over to the clock on her bedside table, 7am on her day off. She sat up slowly with a groan, as did the brunette male that was lying prostrate on her floor attempting to nurse his throbbing skull. Hinata sighed and pulled her hair back into a long pony tail with a band from around her wrist. She swung her feet over the edge of her bed and lightly glared down at the man, before she was tackled back into bed by a beast. Sasuke ran into her room swiftly after with a baseball bat in hand.

Hinata groaned from under the weight of the massive dog, before looking towards Sasuke with a judgmental gleam in her eye. "You're a cop, and the first thing you grab when you think you hear an intruder, is a bat. Not a gun. A bat." Sasuke blushed lightly, before catching himself in the act and sobering up. She shouldered the dog off of her chest to suck in a deep breath of air, and stood up beside her bed. "Ridiculous. Anyways, what did you need me for so badly that you had to break into my house with your beast-dog at 7 in the morning Kiba?" She put her hands on her hips as she addressed the brunette who was scratching at the new tattoos on his cheeks; upside down, bright red triangles that covered at least 50% of the available skin on his face.

Kiba looked up at her sheepishly from the ground, his dog, Akamaru, sitting obediently behind him. "I forgot." He closed his eyes and started laughing nervously. Hinata looked towards Sasuke, and Sasuke nodded, then cracked his knuckles.

. . . . .

"Sasuke! Hinata! Not cool man!" Kiba yelled while all the blood rushed to his head. He kicked at the rope that was holding him by his left ankle a little more than two feet above the ground. "I just forgot, c'mon! You even hit me in the head Hinata, that's gotta count for something! Let me down!" He turned towards Akamaru, who was sleeping peacefully in the lush grass of the yard. "Traitor."

Hinata sighed from her spot on the porch, tea cup in hand and watched the sun finish rising into the horizon. Sasuke soon sat down on the porch steps to her left, and turned to watch Kiba wriggling like a fish. "How long do you figure it'll take him to get down? I'd bet $20 on an hour."

Hinata paused to think about it. "I'd say $50 on 3 minutes." Sasuke spat in his hand and reached it out to her to shake. She looked from his hand up to his straight-laced face, then shook her head. She spit in her hand and quickly shook his, then wiped the mess on the sleeve of his shirt. He grimaced. "It's what you get, nasty boy." Sasuke smiled as he brought his coffee mug up to his lips.

"You don't know how nasty I can be." He muttered into his mug, and looked at her through half-lidded eyes. Hinata choked on her tea, shot him a glare, that quickly bubbled over into uncontrollable laughter, which Sasuke added to with his deep, baritone voice.

"What's so funny you guys?!" Kiba shouted from across the expanse of the lawn. Sasuke stopped laughing, and brought his drink up yet again, in an attempt to irritate Kiba by ignoring the brand new college graduates' question. Kiba kicked again at the knot, which chose that exact moment to not want to be a knot anymore. Hinata and Sasuke watched as Kiba fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Hinata held her hand out to Sasuke, who was staring wide-eyed at the stunned boy.

"Pay up, pretty boy." Hinata smiled smugly. Kiba tried to stand, but fainted from the blood rushing from his head back to the feet he couldn't feel. Hinata chuckled quietly to herself while Sasuke dug around in his pocket for his wallet, all the time grumbling about 'stupid dog- boys'. Today would be a better day than she'd thought.

. . . . .

1. Ah, first chapter is finito! That's another language for... something.

2. I don't have much to say for this except for my character development will be different from the show and manga, so if you hate the idea of Hinata being a bit braver due to reasons I shall explain later (promise!) and a Sasuke that is actually somewhat ENJOYABLE to be around, or if you hate the idea of them just being good friends in general (a story of which I will also explain more in depth) then this ain't the fic for y-o-u!

3. However... If you like gun fights, infiltration missions, getaway cars complete with fake cop car chases, disguises, a surprise romance, major and unexpected plot twists, and loveable yet kick-butt characters with lots of real people traits, and a few that relate to the show... (I'm rambling ladidadidaaa) ... then continue to read on and stay excited for the next chapter!

4. This... is gonna be gooood! hehe. Ah Disney...

5. Rated M for future violence, suspense, real life situations, and maybe some sexual **implications**, but there will be nothing besides that in that genre of romance. Just thought I'd add this in at the beginning so no one's disappointed or anything. So-rry.

R & R Gracias! That's Spanish... for something! See ya, Love AMB11


	2. Worth the Blush

Thank ye to all who reviewed my last chapter! And... I will go ahead and apologize on waiting so long to update... I had one of my moments where anime reared its wonderful head, and I just had to finish every single one that was recommended to me by readers. So-rry!

As a reward for waiting so long for my update (more like a small bribe to get me out of trouble) I will inform you that there will be a new story coming soon about Uta no Prince-sama, and I guarantee it'll be good. Never heard of it? ...Reeeally sucks to be you... Bye!

Everybody's got to love these slow starting filler chapters! Oh, wait, no you don't. Let me rephrase that. Everybody's got to put up with these slow starting filler chapters! Better. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto... Just the random stuff I threaten the characters into doing against their will... I mean the plot!

Chapter 2: Worth the Blush

(For those of you who skip my rants at the end, read this instead. If you want the next chapter, I'll need to see at least 3 reviews! Sooner they're up, the sooner you get to read. I'm a jerkface haha!)

"Hinata, sweetheart, you are aware that speeding is still illegal even if you are a cop, right?" Sasuke looked sick in his seat in the passenger side of the undercover police vehicle. Hinata slammed on her brakes as a smile broke out onto her face. The engine purred loudly in anticipation as she waited at the near empty four-way stop for the beige Toyota to her right to cross the street before she could.

"Yeah, I'm aware." She winked at the poor man next to her. "It just makes it _less_ illegal." Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath when the young lady drove the car onto the freeway. He felt Hinata slap him on the arm, probably trying to tell him to stop being such a baby.

"This is why you shouldn't drive!" Hinata gave him an 'I don't know what you're talking about look' once she swerved the car back into the right lane. "I'm just thanking God right now that it's only 7:30 and that the streets are still relatively empty. I'm driving on the way back!"

"You never complain about my driving when we're on-duty." She fixed him with a pointed look before she turned off of the highway and slowed the vehicle down to 40mph gradually.

"When you're in a car chase, you're allowed to drive like that. Going in to the office in the early morning is a strict prohibition on that freedom. In other words, don't drive like a maniac unless you're being payed to!" Sasuke yelled out the last few words when she brought the vehicle to a stop less than four inches behind the vehicle in front of her.

"No yelling in my car!" Hinata glared at him.

. . . . .

"No! Come on, Hina! You're driving is fine. I won't complain anymore, I promise!" She ignored the loud thump from the back of her vehicle and turned out of the empty fast-food restaurant's parking lot and onto the vacant street. She turned the radio up a little to try and tune out the banging and loud shouts coming from the man in her trunk.

"You wouldn't be back there if you had better reflexes!"

_~Flashback~_

_"No yelling in my car!" Hinata turned into the McDonald's parking lot without even an attempt to slow down the Mustang. Sasuke almost looked like he was going to hyperventilate, and she _almost _felt sorry for him. 'But, not enough I guess.' She jabbed him in the neck with her middle finger and watched him slump over, unconscious in his seat. Hinata sighed, but unbuckled her seat belt and climbed out of the drivers-side door._

_It had taken her longer than she'd wanted to get Sasuke out of his seat. 'Gosh! What does this guy eat? He doesn't even look heavy. Stupid tall people, make themselves look thinner.' She dragged him from his seat by his bicep and let him fall ungracefully the last few inches to the ground, careful to keep his head from hitting the pavement. She bent down and tried to heft his upper body over her shoulder, but fell down under his weight with a loud squeak._

_She struggled under him for a few seconds, all the while, an incredibly bright blush lighting up her face like a Christmas tree. She was stuck. She tried to lift him up enough to squirm out from under the full grown man, but even if she was built up from her profession, her best friend was still more muscular than she'd ever be, and she'd just learned how heavy muscle can be._

_Hinata sighed heavily before putting her hands on his shoulders and preparing herself to push, when he moaned, low and deep in his chest, in what she hoped was pain. His eyes fluttered open slowly, unfocused and confused. _

_"Hinata?" _

_Hinata squeaked loudly from embarrassment, suddenly flailing her arms and legs, trying her best to come up with an excuse. 'He's never gonna let me live this down!' His head dropped to her shoulder abruptly as he blacked out, and she breathed a heavy sigh of relief. _

_She let her head drop to the ground with a light 'thunk'. She patted him lightly on the head while he 'slept', in hopes of him forgiving her when he woke up. 'He smells good,' she thought absentmindedly while she readied herself to push again. _

_She finally hefted him off of her, and she eventually willed her blush away after a few calming breaths. She brushed the gravel and dirt from her pants before grabbing him by his ankles and slowly dragging him back towards the trunk. 'Is this even worth it, I mean he's really heavy and he was just being an idiot.'_

_His jeans slid down his legs with a particularly rough pull, just as she got him beside the trunk. Hinata fell to her knees laughing, and immediately knew that, 'Yes, it was worth it,' and 'She'd never have guessed that Sasuke was a Bishounen fan,' judging by all of the different male anime characters on his boxers. _

_Hinata took him by his hands and hefted him up to the open trunk door so that at least half of him was inside. She grabbed his feet and shoved his legs inside, along with the belt from around her waist, before slamming the door shut soundly._

_"Definitely worth the blush." She climbed back into her car._

_~End Flashback~_

Hinata parked the Mustang as close as she could to being inside the lines, then shut off the engine. She listened to Sasuke bang on the trunk door for a few moments before she threw the door open and stepped out into the cool morning air.

"Is your partner in the trunk?" Hinata was trembling in her attempt to stage off her laughter in front of her superior.

"Yes, sir. You see, we wanted to test the strength of the trunk in case it was ever needed during an arrest or other such situation, and Uchiha so kindly agreed to be the test subject. We wanted to do this while there weren't a lot of drivers on the road, for safety reasons of course." She told the tall, lanky man in front of her, her tones clipped and professional, even if she was lying. She could tell that the man in front of her was trying not to laugh, and was really failing. Shikamaru took a few deep breaths, then nodded his head. He walked towards the building's front doors with a wave over his shoulder to her.

"Congratulations on a job well done yesterday Hinata."

"Thank you Mr. Nara." She shrunk back at his disapproving look, even if he did look more bored than angry. "T-thanks, Shikamaru." He nodded at her again, a lazy smile on his face before he stepped through the glass doors of the police station.

Hinata chuckled under her breath at the man before walking around to the back of her car.

"Hinata! C'mon, it's hot back here. Let me out! You can choose what movie we watch tonight!" Hinata put the key into the door and turned it until she heard the lock click. She opened the door a few inches, and couldn't help but smile when she watched his fingers creep under the door cautiously and raise it enough for the man to climb out. Sasuke took a deep breath, then climbed gracefully from the confined space, which when she really looked at it, must have really been a cramped ride for him, what with his height and build. He stared at her with a blank face.

"You're evil, you know that, right? What happened to the cute little Hina I knew in high school that was afraid of everything but me?" Hinata just knew that if they had been at home that he'd be hugging her senseless until she apologized, and she was glad for once that he was too prideful to do much of anything in public with her.

Sasuke shut the door to the trunk behind him, looking almost afraid of the thing now, and she mentally patted herself on the back for emotionally scarring Mr. Nothing-Scares-Me-Uchiha. "Well, I'm picking the movie tonight. Remember, you promised Uchiha. Maybe we should just watch anime." She trailed off with a smug look on her face.

Sasuke sat on the back of the Mustang and buried his face in his hands to hide his mortification from the world. "They're not mine! I gave them to my brother as a gag gift a few years ago and they somehow wound up in my suitcase when I moved out."

"Then why do they have your name on the inside." His eyes went wide and his mouth all but dropped open in astonishment.

"How did you- Did you seriously- You saw that?!" Hinata shook her head and stood on her tip toes to poke him in the chest.

"I do your laundry, doofus. I"m not exactly sure why I do, but I do, so of course I'd see your underwear." She winked at him, and he groaned before walking around to the driver's side of the vehicle.

"I think you do it because I pay for half the bills." He pulled the door open and climbed inside while she nodded with a 'hmph.'

"And just so you know, no, I didn't look, but thank you for disproving your earlier statement for me." Sasuke pouted, his lower lip jutting out and his eyes sparkling in a way that would make most male models sign up to be his understudy in a heartbeat.

"Wait for me here, I'll only be a few minutes." He nodded, his head almost hitting the roof of the too-short-for-him car, while she shut the door with a loud bang. Sasuke pulled his phone out and started playing spades while he watched her enter the building. He smiled to himself. 'Time for Alien Invaders; Space Adventure'! He laughed to himself as the app loaded on his screen.

. . . . .

"Come in!" Came the loud, and somewhat angry sounding response to the gentle knock. Hinata opened the door slowly and crept into the large room. The window view from the sixth floor always impressed her, and it was even better in the Chief's corner office at this time of day. The room was illumined brightly by the sun behind the large desk in the middle of the room, which held a few lamps that brightened the work space considerably. The walls of the room were painted a light cream color, and the trim of the door to the office was a bright, contrasting red, much like the mural of the fire stations logo on the wall. Hinata walked across the navy colored carpet, her converse muting her footsteps. She stopped at the curve of the desk, which was shaped almost like a boomerang, what with how it seemed to bend under the shadows cast by the sun.

"Chief Tsunade? I have my report for yesterdays assignment for filing. I just need your stamp of approval before I deliver it." Hinata said politely to the blonde woman seated behind the desk.

Tsunade pulled on one of her pigtails, playing with the tip, before turning to face Hinata for the first time since she'd entered the room. Her cheeks were dusted a light pink, and her gaze was slightly unfocused. "Who're you again?"

Her breath smelt of liquor and the large, empty bottle of beer on the desk beside the computer wasn't exactly an encouraging sign to Hinata. It was a weekend after all.

"Date not go well last night, Chief?" Hinata asked quietly while searching the surface of the desk for the stamp she needed.

"God, no!" Tsunade hiccuped loudly, looking almost like she wanted to cry. "The guy's wife showed up, like halfway through, wanting a divorce 'cuz he was cheatin' on her." She slammed her hand onto the desk loudly.

"I'm very sorry to hear that Chief." Hinata took her hand comfortingly.

"This is why I'm so glad you're my daughter, always so kind to me." Tsunade smiled blearily at Hinata, who smiled gently back. Hinata slipped the stamp into Tsunade's hand, and brought the inked side down onto her report.

"Thank you so much Chief." She stepped away from the desk and backed up to the door. "Have a nice day, Tsunade."

"Is that any way to talk to your mother?!" Hinata shut the door quickly, and listened to the loud crash on the other side of the door, quickly praying that it wasn't expensive and that she wouldn't get blamed for its destruction later.

"I saw that." Hinata turned at the deep voice, her hand flying to her chest to cover the heart she felt was about to break out of her rib cage.

"Shino! You scared the fool out of me. Why are you the only one who can still scare me so badly?" Hinata started down the hallway towards the elevator, the door of which he was holding open for her. She hurried inside, and pressed the button down to the third floor.

Shino lowered his shades down his nose to peer down at her. "Don't judge me! Oh, and Tsunade's drunk again." Hinata said humorously. Shino sighed, then pushed his glasses back up. He nodded with a 'mhm' then leaned over her to push the button to the second floor. "Why does every male in this place make me feel like such a midget?"

"Because you're short." Shino replied curtly, watching her fume silently with a blush on her face.

The elevator jolted to a stop, the doors opening with a ping. "See you later bug-man."

Shino smiled at her, just the slightest twitch of his lips. "You haven't called me that since high school."

She gave him a two fingered salute as the door shut, a gentle smile playing at her lips. She waited until the elevator doors 'pinged' shut before she turned on her heel and headed down the hall. An arm slung around her shoulder, startling her from her pleasant thoughts. The smell of dog quickly became overwhelming.

"Where's your bodyguard, Hina babe? Tied down by the leash at home?" Kiba nuzzled his nose into her hair with a laugh.

Hinata smiled, stood on her toes to pat him on the head, then continued walking down the hall, away from the dog-training facility. "Down boy." She flipped her hair over her shoulder, glancing at him through her lashes shyly, a light blush on her face. "That's a good doggy." She turned the corner, leaving Kiba, and at least half of the males that she knew were his work buddies staring after her wantonly. 'He always did go for the shy ones back in school, usually older too. That guy has a weird taste in women.'

Hinata bumped into a wall. Or at least it was as solid as a wall. Except this wall was screaming in her ear about how sorry it was, and that it would do anything to help her retain her 'flower of purity' it seemed to have damaged by knocking her to the ground. Lee offered her his hand, which she gladly took, as he helped her stand.

He was talking so fast that she couldn't follow, only catching every fifth or sixth word, and she was quickly becoming flustered. She held her hands up in front of herself. "Lee. Lee! I'm fine, I'm not hurt. But, if you really wanted to make it up to me, you'd take this down to the filing department to Sakura." She watched his face light up even further at the thought of seeing Sakura.

"Yes ma'am!" He saluted, before running off faster than any Olympian she'd ever seen. Hinata shook her head, before heading back out the way she'd come.

. . . . .

End of Chapter 2!

. . . . .

1. I have a feeling that not much happened this chapter besides showing you a few of her work relationships and a few funny stories. Peh, useless, yet I find it entertaining in a way.

2. Yay for boring filler chapters!

3. The next chapter will probably be another filler while I gather the beginning of my plot, but I'll be sure to make it at least purposeful. Well, as you have all noticed, Hinata knows a lot of her buddies from work, and is apparently picked on for being short. That's what us girls get when we hang out around a lot of guys. You feel short. I feel her pain even though I'm almost six feet tall, all my guy friends still call me midget.

4. So... Sasuke liking girly anime with good looking guys? Anybody? No? ...fine...

5. If I get my reviews, I'll even put in a short at the beginning of chapter 3 that tells Sasuke's point of view while he was trapped in the trunk! Ah, bribery.

6. Stay tuned for the next update as soon as I write it! And keep on the lookout for any of my new works which will be coming out soon.

R & R if you want the next chapter. At least 3 reviews before it comes up! Love, AMB11 :3


	3. Shell-Shocked

**Warning! ~SEVERELY IMPORTANT NOTE~**

**PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTINUING!**

I want to apologize to all of you who read my rant from yesterday! I realize I wrote it because I was upset about some things, hadn't eaten or slept in 2 days, and to admit it, I was off an important medication... Well, anyways, I'm just a kid, so I really do want to say sorry in a sincere way to those of you I upset, so be expecting me to just pump out chapters for this story all day today.

**Super special thanks to de-ji bebi, the reader whose review knocked some sense into me as an author. I owe you big time. Thank you :)**

Please forgive me my great and ticked off readers T-T

**Disclaimer:** This incredibly sorry person owns no part of Naruto!

. . . . .

**Dignity of a Criminal Chapter 3 Shell-Shocked:**

Hinata rolled over in bed and breathed in deeply through her nose, taking in the delicious smell of her lavender detergent. It was warm on her bed, and she noticed that the television was running some mindless program in the background. There was something else in the air, and something warm on her shoulders. She snuggled happily into the warmth, and all but screamed when the warmth snuggled back, the smell of Axe assaulting her nose.

She slapped her hand over her mouth to hold in her scream when she tried to sit up in bed, but was quickly crushed against the pillows by Sasuke. She was laying on her back in her bed, her comforter gathered around Sasuke's waist, that at the moment was squashing her pelvis into the cushions.

The big lug was lying completely on top of her, one of his bare arms thrown over her shoulder, his face buried in her neck, and his other arm holding a good deal of his weight off to one side of her. She wriggled in embarrassment, remembering the parking lot incident from yesterday morning.

His chest was bare, but his sweatpants were soft against her legs, which were tangled with his. A pair of his gym shorts were held on her waist by the drawstring drawn tight. She was relieved to find her top was more covered than his buffed up chest, and was immensely grateful for the black cami that stopped just above her bust line.

Hinata squirmed a little, her hands on his hips, trying to slide out from under the sleeping man, but the minute she moved, his arm tightened around her, one hand sliding to the small of her back to hold him to her. Sasuke mumbled something incoherent into her neck, and her blush rose ten-fold.

"This is what I get for agreeing to let you watch the movie in here with me last night. You've always been a cuddler." Hinata whispered to Sasuke, who sighed out another unintelligible string of words before he stretched and readjusted, breathed a sigh, then dropped back down on her. "Oof! What the hey man! I'm making you cut back on your workout schedule. Muscle is too dang heavy." Hinata let out a heavy breath then laid her hands under his shoulders, wrapped around his back and held him tight, prepared to go back to sleep.

"Hey Hinata! I need a-Woah Momma, what've we got here?! I always knew he'd go after you eventually." Kiba leaned against the bedroom doorframe with a sly smirk on his face, watching Hinata squirm beneath Sasuke, who was slowly coming to.

. . . . .

It was so awkward. Hinata ran a finger delicately along the surface of the wood table, tracing the grain while she did her absolute best to will away the firetruck-red blush that was spread across her face. 'Curse you Sasuke.'

The current bane of her existence sat on the opposite side of the table, watching her with an incredibly smug look. "You know, I'm having a pretty good morning." Sasuke kicked his feet up on the table and leaned back a bit in his chair before he brought his steaming cup of coffee to his lips. "Got to beat the crap out of Kiba before breakfast, which by the way was very nice."

"T-thank y-you." It came out as more of squeak than she'd intended, and as soon as it left her lips she wanted to curl up under a rock under Sasuke's amused gaze. He'd promised not to bring it up, but she was just making it so difficult for him. When he'd woken up from Kiba laughing his head off and something throwing a major tantrum under him, he'd nearly fainted when he discovered what that something was. He'd ended up taking out his amused confusion on the trespasser.

Hinata stood from the table, gathered the dishes, and scurried over to the sink as quickly as she could. "I have to go in to work today. Tsunade texted me last night and said there's something she wants to give me. Probably another undercover assignment."

"Hn. S'pose that makes sense. You're usually all for dressing up and stuff. I like it when you get sent in to fancy parties and stuff. I get to go as your date most of the time." Hinata tried her best to ignore the burning sensation on the back of her head from his eyes. "You know I'm proud of you, right?"

Hinata turned at that, a look of utter confusion gracing her features. "Proud?" Sasuke nodded. "Of what?"

"It's just, look at you now from what you used to be. It's incredible how you were only on the police force for one year before you were recommended by multiple people to start doing some of the bigger busts the station does. I'm not just proud, I'm impressed. It took me nearly two years, and if not for Shikamaru lending a few kind words here and there I probably would've been stuck working some street corner on a regular shift."

Hinata teared up a bit, even if the whole thing had been said in a monotone voice and interrupted by a yawn here and there. She wiped her eyes quickly. "You're such a dork, but thank you."

Sasuke smiled once she'd turned her back and downed the rest of his coffee. He stood up from his seat as quietly as he could, sneaked over to the sink, and wrapped his arms around the petite girl to startle her. He laughed when she jumped, then let her go. He rested one hand on the sink's edge, reached around her to deposit his mug in the soapy water, then let that hand mirror his other on her opposite side. He could practically see the steam rising from the poor, trapped girl's blush. He blushed himself when she backed up just a little bit and she was momentarily pressed against him, then mentally scolded himself for thinking of someone he called his sister like that seriously. He pressed a light kiss to the top of her head. "Have a nice day at work sweetheart." He lowered his voice a little. "Maybe we can pick up where we left off this morning when you get back later."

She was gone before he'd even finished speaking. She ducked under his arm, dashed for the front door, pulling her boots on as she ran. "Pervert!" She slammed the door behind her, fuming when she heard him yell out, "Love you too!"

. . . . .

Hinata was panicking a little and she felt the sudden urge to pee herself become a little overwhelming. Tsunade was staring at her, blatantly in fact, after dragging her from her car in the parking lot directly to her office the second Hinata had pulled up in her parking space. Hinata swallowed dryly.

"What did you need me for this morning Chief?" Hinata worried her lower lip between her teeth.

"Do you know of the Uzumaki's?" Her voice was hushed, and Hinata was instantly interested in the conversation, picking up on the name the instant she'd heard it.

"Mhm. There's that singer right from a few years ago, right? Kushina." Tsunade nodded.

"Well, they're known for more than that, but if that's where you know the name from, we'll work from there. Kushina was a bit of a pop star back about 20 years ago, while her husband, Minato, ran a small time business. When the two got married, Minato's business skyrocketed. Ever heard of Namikaze Corp.?"

Hinata immediately nodded her head. "There's one of those buildings in just about every town in the area. It has something to do with trading, right?"

"Yeah, in general, they deal with the trade business between the locations, and a certain branch of this station is trained to work as almost a convoy, but you already knew that. Anyway, both Minato and Kushina were murdered last night while at home and their son was taken by whoever is responsible."

"Why do you need me? I'm not with the forensics department."

"Lately, I've been sending you on small time undercover assignments, mainly because I had a feeling something was coming."

Hinata's brow furrowed. "Did you get a lead before the incident?"

"Not exactly. There were quite a few problems going on with the system, and when Minato tried to alter his business to be more effective in the situations for the economy in the smaller surrounding cities, the larger cities were outraged. It was unfair to them that he'd cut off a few different goods that were being traded from the places having a little trouble meeting standards while the places that were more than abundant were being told to give more than usual. I had a feeling something would happen soon."

"So you suspect that someone of importance in, where was it," Hinata picked up the file again, flicking through it's contents until she found the name she'd been looking for, "Otogakure, is to blame for the murders and kidnapping?"

"Actually, no. That's where a bit of the evidence at the scene is leading, and that's the area we'll be forced to look into."

"But, you don't think they'll find anything."

"Because I don't think anything is there." Tsunade's face was grim.

"So, me?" Hinata was through with curious and had moved on to being downright antsy. She wanted to know.

"Agent Hyuga, you're going undercover in Amegakure in a place known locally as Akatsuki. You'll be gone 6 months. That's all the time I can give you to investigate the area. No one must know you're there, and absolutely no one will know you work for the law." She handed Hinata an envelope containing the instructions and information to help create her cover story. "Do you accept?"

Hinata stared down at the envelope in her hands with narrowed opal eyes. She weighed the situation in her mind, calculating the importance of the assignment alongside a few things she'd probably be forced to do during it. It also came into play that Tsunade had personally called her in to give her this mission, singling her out among all the other agents in the force that specialize in undercover assignments. She felt honored.

"So, do you?"

. . . . .

End of Chapter 3

. . . . .

1. I feel a little evil right now... Cliffy! But what's it really matter when the next chapter will be coming forth within a few hours... Hmm...

2. So I know this chapter couldn't possibly make it up to you readers, but I'm hoping that it'll at least help a little. Please accept the first part of my apology chapter saga!

3. Alright, so I'm still feeling incredibly bad about what I did yesterday, so I'm going to be nice and not rant at all on this chapter and just let it stand happily on its own.

Bye, love AMB11.


	4. Just A Little Different

Thank you all so much for staying with me so far! Sorry about not getting this up yesterday or earlier today, but I had to change hospital rooms suddenly and my new one didn't have a computer like my other one did. I eventually just had to get my sister to go get my files from the computer in my old room and put them on a flash drive. She got chased out of my old room by the new resident's, some little boy I think it was, mother for being a creeper. That made my day!

My doctor is so nice y'all! He let me borrow his mini-laptop from his office when he came to check on me a while ago, so I'll upload this quickly while I have a connection. Yay for nice elderly men with computers!

I get released tomorrow y'all, rejoice! Now let's get this thing started :)

**Disclaimer:** This not-so-sick-anymore person doesn't own Naruto! But she does own an IV drip with her name printed on it all special like.

Dignity of a Criminal Chapter 4: Just A Little Different

The scissor blade was frigid against her neck. She felt a shiver run down her spine as the cold metal dragged gently across her skin, making the small hairs at her nape stand on end. She heard a distinct snip, and tears welled up in her eyes. That sound rang in her ears, or maybe the scissors were still cutting, but whatever the reason, she felt a heap of regret land on her heart, causing her chest to clench painfully. The chair was spun around to face the mirror, but her head was quickly tilted back before she could see. The stylist held her eyelids open so far, that tears built up under the contact that was placed gently in her eye, and she blinked heavily to clear them before the pink-haired young woman moved on to the other eye.

Sakura ran the powder brush over Hinata's cheek one last time before placing it back in the make-up kit on the counter and taking a step backwards to look at her. "It's still missing something. I need to figure this out before I send you on your way to get it finalized." She spun Hinata around to look at the mirror then placed a hand on her chin to think. Hinata almost fell out of her chair when she saw her reflection.

Her skin was lightly tanned, and she was pleased that it actually looked natural, even in the harsh lighting of the room. Her hair, God, her poor hair lay all along the floor under the chair. The tips just reached her chin in the front before sloping up gently in the back, where it was neatly stacked. Her once opalescent eyes were now a glowing, grayish blue.

Sakura reached her arms around the back of the chair and tugged a chunk of Hinata's hair up on top of her head, spun it into a bun, then tied it in place with a hair tie. Sakura clipped a big white flower to the bun, then spun the chair back around to face her. She smiled gently, then let her expression fall into a frown.

"I think I know what's missing Sakura." Hinata grabbed Sakura's hand and stood. "Come with me for a moment."

"Where are we going?" Sakura stumbled after her friend, her wrist still caught in the shorter girl's hand.

"You'll see."

. . . . .

"I haven't been here in forever." Hinata pushed on the door to the tattoo parlor and made her way to the front desk, Sakura following up the rear closely behind her.

"You have a tattoo?" Sakura looked at Hinata, shock etched on her face. The pinkette sighed in relief when her companion shook her head.

"I came here to get this when I was 17." Hinata lifted the hem of her shirt a few inches, her small butterfly piercing peeking out from underneath. Hinata looked her friend in the eye. "Don't ask." Sakura held her hands up beside her head in surrender.

They stood beside the desk for a few minutes and waited for someone to assist them, but after a while of no one showing up, Sakura banged her fist on the bell sitting on the small wooden surface. Hinata let her fume for a minute, watching the back door all the while for a sign of life.

There was a loud scream from the back door, the sounds of what seemed to be a man sobbing, then the slamming of a door. The door behind the desk opened and a very feminine looking young man that had tattoos of what looked like ice mirrors running all over his arms stepped out of the bright room and let the door slam shut behind him. He glanced warily at the crushed bell before approaching his customers.

"Sorry about that, I was with a customer." He smiled at the two women, who cringed slightly at the overall creepy aura the man seemed to emanate. "So which one of you needs assistance?"

Hinata leaned over the counter and played with a strand of the employees' black, shoulder length hair. "That'd be me, Haku." She breathed out his name.

"How'd you know my-"

Hinata ran a finger over Haku's chest until the digit ran into a rectangular, metal object. "Name tag. Now, you gonna help me or not?" She looked up through her eyelashes at the poor man. Haku swallowed nervously. He ran a hand through his hair, his body language reeking of nervousness.

"Come with me to the back then Ms.-"

"Konan, call me Konan." Hinata pulled the man by his neck tie to the door and kicked it shut with her foot. Sakura sat down in a chair in the foyer and waited for her friend to return, her thoughts running wild.

"No wonder she got picked to do this; she's good. She's like a totally different person." Sakura smiled forlornly. "I'm going to miss her."

. . . . .

"That's perfect, Hinata. You were right, that's just what you needed. But, how'd you get him to do it for half-price?" Sakura and Hinata made their way down the street, heading back towards the main building of the station. Hinata fingered the circular piercing in her bottom lip, cringing when it bled a bit into her mouth, before answering carefully.

"Turns out that he's as gay as he looked."

"Then how'd you do it if he didn't want anything to do with you?" Hinata smirked devilishly, and with her new look, looked genuinely scary to her pink-haired companion.

"Gave him Sasuke's picture and phone number." Sakura laughed all the way to the drop off point, secretly planning to give Sasuke a ring after her shift was over to see how his man-love was going. She waved good-bye to her companion when she stepped into the elevator to take her down to the basement floor to be relocated. Hinata waved back, then smiled gently once the doors clicked shut.

When the elevator began its descent and she'd started on her journey down to the basement, she flipped her phone open, cleared her inbox, then read through her calender for the next 6 months, deleting everything on the pages. She stopped when she came across a very special date, a date that she hadn't missed in over 10 years. Sasuke's birthday. She felt the tears rush down her cheeks and to the metal floor of the elevator. She wrote a quick memo on her phone, powered it down, and handed it to the guard that was waiting for her when she exited the elevator.

"Deliver this to Uchiha, Sasuke once I'm gone."

The brown haired man smiled at Hinata, winked playfully, then stepped into the elevator before the doors could shut. "Understood, Gorgeous. I'll pull a few strings to see that it's done." She thanked the tall young man, even though he couldn't hear her, and even added in a compliment on his make-up, that had he heard, he'd have strictly defended that it was very manly paint.

. . . . .

End Chapter 4

. . . . .

1. Okay, so I may have to cut my rant a little short this time since I have people trying to pry the laptop away from my fingers.

2. Take a guess if you know who was the man 'pulling the strings' at the end of the chapter. First person who gets it right will receive a mention in the author's note at the beginning of next chapter.

3. So proud, I got this chapter typed up and checked over in less than 15 minutes, even if it is short, just based on a rough outline I'd made earlier.

4. *hits doctor with an umbrella* "You said I could use this, and I'll give it back when I'm done! No, wait! Don't unplug my internet hook-ups! Please, I need that! NOOOOOO!"

R & R, quick! Love, AMB11!


	5. Partners

It's been a while since I've last updated this story! Urrgh! So glad that some of you are still with me here. :)

To avoid confusion, whenever you see the name Konan, it is a reference to Hinata, as that is her name while she's undercover. They are the same person!

Okay, so, if you read my latest update on my SasuNaru fic, you should know that my computer got taken away. Well, how'd I update this chapter then? Well, that's because I read an entire 587 page novel, which sucked by the way, in less than 5 hours, so Papa AMB11 had to give me my laptop back because he lost the bet between us. Ha, he didn't think I could do it. I just wish it seriously could've been a good book at least! I hate those lame teeny-bopper everything is a big angst popsicle all the time books. Bleh.

One more thing, I'm now officially available to be a beta-reader! Check me out if you need one. :)

**Disclaimer:** AMB11 doesn't own Naruto!

* * *

Chapter 5: Partners

"I want a job." The room would have been considered spacious had it not been for the excess of large furniture that was crammed into every corner of the office, from the enormous mahogany desk to the arm chairs that must have been stuffed two times their natural capacity. The blinds were open on the large window on the wall behind the tall-backed chair that currently held her only hope for getting in to where she needed to be. The orange-haired male kicked his boots up onto his desk and leaned back in his chair, the joint holding the seat to the wheels squeaking quietly as he rocked back and forth rhythmically.

"I can't just give it to you like that, Ms. Konan." The man folded his hands behind his head, the sunlight filtering into the room glinting off of the piercings that littered just about every place on his face. The intimidating man smiled and dropped his feet back down to the ground, bringing his elbows up immediately to rest them on the desk, his face a little too close to hers for comfort. Hinata smirked prettily and leaned even closer to the leader of Akatsuki, her eyelashes fluttering against his cheek as she spoke softly in his ear in a firm tone.

"Who said anything about give, Pein? You don't get anything in this world unless you earn it." Hinata leaned her chair back just as Pein leaned in even closer than before. The legs of Hinata's chair screeched loudly against the floor as she stood suddenly, turning around so that Pein couldn't see the smile breaking out across her lips. "And please, just Konan is fine." Hinata crossed her arms behind her back and walked farther into the room until she heard Pein stand behind his desk, his rolling chair smacking loudly against the windowsill.

"How badly do you want this position, Konan?" Her false name rolled smoothly from his pierced lips. Pein ran his fingertips along the smooth edge of his desk, intense gaze locked on the sliver of Hinata's face he could see from his angle behind her, the late afternoon sun from the wide window illuminating her brightly in an angelic glow. Hinata turned around slowly, her gaze trained on his face the entire time, even if his eyes didn't stay in quite such an appropriate place on her person. She placed a hand on the tall man's shoulder, the simple act feeling more sensual in the thick tension than if she'd done something much less innocent. If you observed closely, as Pein was, his gaze sliding from her delicate wrist up to the sleeve cut off just below her elbow, you'd tell it was the innocence of the act that made it all the more sensual.

"You need a worker; someone qualified, and fast." Hinata withdrew her hand, seemingly accidentally running her fingertips down his shoulder before bringing her thumbnail between her teeth while she calculated her next move. "I can do that." She looked over her up through her lashes at Pein and smiled playfully.

"I understand what you're capable of. I'm impressed actually, but I don't trust you." His tone had yet to stray from his clipped, polite tone, but she could feel the subtle vibe coming from the man that he liked her, not interested, but impressed enough to ask her to stay if she could seal the deal.

"Trust isn't given, you earn it. I can't do that," Hinata stepped into Pein's personal space, her heels giving her just enough height to be even with his chin, "If you won't give me a chance."

Pein lowered his face down to hers, his head tilted slightly to the side, his breath directly on her lips. He stared through her, and she returned the intense look with one of unwavering confidence. Her gray-blue eyes locked firmly with his own, which were such an odd shade of blue that they were nearly purple, intriguing darker rings in his irises spiraling hypnotically while he searched her eyes for any reason to distrust her.

"Guard duty on a trial basis, for now. Do we have a deal?" His expression was hard, but his voice was like velvet.

"Agreed." He shook her hand, his forehead pressed against hers until she slid her slender palm from his and blew over the threshold of the room, her footsteps clacking gently on the hardwood floor until she reached the carpeted hallway.

"Tonight. Seven in the evening. Your temporary partner will show you around."

"Understood," And she was gone.

* * *

Hinata stepped into the bright room, cringing at the green walls, the cold rush of air when she opened the door built into one of said hideous green walls, and then the heat and humidity of the air once she'd shut the metal door again. She set the gallon of milk on the counter and glided over the tiled floor on her socks, sliding to a stop once she'd reached the pantry; the small pantry; _her _small pantry.

It had taken a month, one full month, to locate Akatsuki, their name being few and far between all over Amegakure. And now she was down to five months before Tsunade had to drop the case and declare the missing Uzumaki dead. That was dangerous territory. A missing man, Konoha blaming the wrong people for the death of the person that had made peace between all of the towns, and finally a small scale civil war when every town sticks to it's closer alliances. If she didn't find the Uzumaki, she might as well wear a sign that says 'This is all my fault!' and march through Konoha when Otogakure blew them up for blaming them for the war. _Thanks _Tsunade.

Hinata spooned a mouthful of Cheerios into her mouth, the spoon dangling from between her lips as she carried her 'dinner' to the bedroom of her new, not so new anymore, apartment. She kicked the bedroom door shut behind her and carried her bowl with her over to her bed.

"So, you're my new partner." Hinata jumped sky high when the very deep, very masculine, and very southern accented voice rang out across her room from behind her, some of the milk from her bowl splashing to the hardwood floor. Hinata turned slowly, pulling the spoon out of her mouth to avoid embarrassing herself further. The first thing she noticed was the incredibly bright shock of red hair, and it took her a moment to realize she was staring. Her eyes slid quickly down the rest of the man,; his slouched posture, extremely pale and unmarked complexion, army green t-shirt that she thought clashed just a bit with his hair, baggy jeans that were hanging a bit too low on his hips, and black hunting boots that had a bit of mud caked on the toes. He was about average height, a little under six feet if she had to guess, and he was definitely above average muscle mass if the tightness of the long sleeves on his arms and the subtle outline of a six pack meant anything. He cleared his throat quietly, and she looked him in the eye again-and was he wearing eyeliner?

"Is that natural?" She pointed at his outrageously red locks. All Hinata got from the tall red-head was a nod and a bored look in response. She cleared her throat in the awkward silence, her face flushing when she realized he was raking his eyes over her. She turned around and hid her blush by eating another bite of her cereal. Why did this lazy looking man make her feel so flustered? "You said we were partners?"

"Hn." Hinata's heart skipped a beat, and she prayed that whoever this new partner of her's was, couldn't tell. 'He sounded just like Sasuke.' "Name's Sasori."

Hinata fingered the piercing in her lip while she stared into the red-head's amber eyes. "Konan." The two just stared at each other, one of them with an extremely bored expression and the other with no expression at all. Hinata blinked and the left side of her lips twitched ever so slightly.

"What are you doing in my apartment?"

"Boss sent me." Hinata nodded her understanding, sitting back on her navy comforter, bowl of breakfast food in hand. Her partner sure liked to stare, that or he just never blinked.

"Why? He told me 7. It's only 6, and I remember where the building is." Sasori eyed her spoon as she sucked it between her lips for the umpteenth time since she'd discovered the stranger in her bedroom, which wasn't as big of a surprise as it probably should've been.

"He doesn't trust you." Hinata understood that perfectly well; she was an undercover cop after all. "This is yours." Hinata set her bowl down and brushed her pants off before approaching the red-head for the first time and taking the ring from him. "It's a key to get inside a few places. Limited access though." He yawned widely.

"You're a chatty man, aren't you?" Hinata nudged Sasori with her elbow, smiling demurely at the man before she walked out of her bedroom and back to the kitchen to get a drink. Sasori followed along after her, taking his time to look at the few decorations in the apartment before shuffling into the kitchen, immediately recoiling at the hideous green assault on his senses.

"Uh... You're-" He cut himself off when Hinata turned to look at him suddenly, her blue eyes piercing through his bored persona, and he felt a subtle fluctuation in the beat of his heart. "Ugly color." The red-head pointed to the wall beside him.

"Yeah, I know. The man that rented this place before me owned a morgue and I haven't gotten around to repainting everything yet." Hinata ran her dish under the warm water from the faucet. "Can I get you something to drink?" Hinata blew a strand of blue hair from her face as she tucked the rinsed bowl into an empty slot in the dishwasher. She spun around on her heels to face her quiet guest while she dried her hands on a clean dishtowel, the edge of the counter digging into the small of her back.

Sasori's footsteps were loud on the kitchen tiles when he made his way over to the window seat. He plopped back onto the navy cushion and stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankle and reclining back comfortably. "Sure. What d'ya got?" Hinata fought back the urge to laugh at his outrageously strong accent, which she figured must have been the reason he didn't talk very much since they were in a northern-dominant city, and rummaged around inside her fridge for a drink.

"I've got a few Mountain Dew's back here, a can of juice, and some bottled waters. No alcohol though, so if that's what you wanted, sorry." She pulled her head out of the refrigerator to look at Sasori, who looked half asleep on her window seat. "Preference?"

"Toss me a coke, then." Hinata raised one arched brow in question, and the red-head suddenly looked like he wanted to slap himself. "Soda, sorry."

"S'alright." She tossed him a can and grabbed the juice for herself. "So, where are you from?" She set her can down after a long swig, then climbed up onto the counter, swinging her legs idly.

"South Konoha." Sasori brought the can to his lips and tilted his head back. Hinata smiled, thinking back on the few people she'd met from Southern Konoha. Konoha itself had become such a large city after the last war a few years ago, that it was split into regions almost a decade previously that quickly spread out all around the surrounding landscape, eventually evolving into five different counties. She, herself, was from Central Konoha, the original branch of the city, so she was used to meeting a few of the people that traveled up from the southern branch for the advanced training program Central offered at the police station, but Sasori must have been from the southernmost part of his county, because he had the strongest accent she'd ever come across, aside from one man that had transferred to her squad right after she started volunteering during her first year of college. He'd left immediately after getting promoted to a different squad six months later. She honestly missed the dark haired individual; he'd had the most striking eyes.

"So that explains the accent then, huh?" Hinata could have sworn she saw him blush, but by the time he'd lowered the can, he'd fixed his bored, blank stare back into place.

"Yeah." Hinata glanced at her watch and chugged the rest of her drink.

"We'd better get going, it's nearly a quarter til." Sasori stood and offered her a hand to help her get down, which she gratefully took, then hopped down off of the counter. She hurried back to her room to get a few things, Sasori heading to the front door to give the young woman some time to get ready.

Hinata ran a brush through her short hair, then pulled up the top layer into a bun on the side of her head and clipped a white flower to the front of it. She hurriedly reapplied her dark make-up and slid her converse onto her feet. She shrugged a dark green jacket on over her Nickelback t-shirt as she rushed to the front door. Sasori was leaning against the cream colored wall in the foyer, but fell in step behind Hinata when she brushed past him and unlocked the door.

"So, I never found out what my work schedule would be, so I was wondering if you'd know, being my partner and all." Hinata stepped onto her small porch and moved aside to let Sasori through, locking the metal door behind him.

"We go when Boss tells us to." Sasori pulled a key out of his pocket and pressed a button, hurrying down the porch steps and to the driveway. Hinata turned around quickly when she heard something beep behind her, and froze, her face paling. "Comin'?" The air was knocked out of her lungs when she caught the helmet thrown to her. "I ain't got all day, Princess." Sasori kicked the stand on his motorcycle back and fired up the engine, the loud roar echoing so loudly that Hinata seriously couldn't believe he'd been able to sneak into her apartment. She hurried down the short driveway and pulled the helmet over her head once she'd swung herself onto the seat behind her partner. "You ever ride before?" He shouted over the loud din of the engine, backing the bike up slowly in the compact driveway.

"No!" She could barely hear her own thoughts, let alone her voice. "Any advice?" She wasn't sure he'd heard her until he finally turned his head back to look at her when they were on the side of the street. His eyes locked with hers through the visors of their helmets, and she saw a glint flash in his honey colored eyes, and she knew he was amused; she wanted to smack him.

"Hold tight and don't fall off." She just knew that he was smiling, even if he hadn't smiled the entire hour she'd been around him; she could just feel it. He revved the engine, and the bike soared down the street, practically flying past the houses beside her apartment complex. Hinata's arms wrapped around his waist like a vice, and she suddenly couldn't quite remember her last name anymore.

They turned a corner abruptly, and she tightened her grip even more, trying to crush Sasori's ribs enough that maybe he'd be forced to slow down so he could breath. He breezed through a stop sign without slowing and turned right at the end of her street, weaving through the light traffic, passing several cars that were going the speed limit. She wondered if he was insane.

Hinata focused on the back of Sasori's helmet to keep from feeling dizzy from watching their surroundings as they rushed past them. She relaxed her grip just a little when the bike slowed down to speed limit when they passed a police car on the side of the road. She felt a strong ache in the pit of her heart when she thought of Sasuke, and she immediately wondered if he was doing alright without her, seeing as she cooked, cleaned, and did laundry for the both of them nearly 90% of the time.

Sasori actually stopped at the stoplight this time and planted one boot solidly on the ground while he waited for the mass of cars to clear out of the way. Hinata noticed his fingers tapping away on the handlebar impatiently and she chuckled quietly to herself, the sound lost in the sound of the traffic all around her; Sasori hated waiting, apparently. Maybe he wasn't insane.

They had taken a different route than she'd walked earlier; this time had taken much longer, so she figured they must be going to a different location than before.

Sasori pulled the bike over into a parking garage between two large skyscrapers, and slowed down to the speed limit of twenty, weaving through all of the filled parking spaces until he steered down to the floor below ground level and found a spot in the back of the large room near the elevators. He kicked the stand down and turned the engine off, waiting for Hinata to climb off of the bike before doing so himself. He pulled his helmet off and clipped it and the one he'd let Hinata use to the luggage carrier on the side of his bike.

"Come on." He ran a hand through his hair, and it sprung up from the position the helmet had forced it into and back into the shaggy spikes it'd been fixed to before. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked across the room towards the stairs tucked into the corner behind a large Ford truck.

"Why are we taking the stairs? There's an elevator." Sasori slid down the first flight, waiting for his companion to catch up to him before continuing on at a decent pace.

"This is faster. Elevators move slowly." Hinata ran a hand delicately along the banister, trying to keep up with the red-head as he skipped every other step.

"Well... Where are we going?"

"Work." Hinata felt her face grow red in irritation at the short, clipped answers she kept getting for her very logical questions; this man was infuriating! Hinata sighed and picked up her pace, trying to stay no more than two steps behind her partner.

There was a door on the next landing of the stairs, the words supply closet typed neatly on a plaque mounted beside it. Sasori pressed the the ring on the thumb of his left hand on the circle surrounding the key hole on the door handle. He lined up the edges of the circular ring with the edge of the circle imprint around the key hole. There was quiet click.

The handle on the door spun downward, split into sections and folded in on itself until the key hole was on a small raised platform an inch or so away from the metal of the door. Sasori pushed his fist forward, the ring still pressed against the key hole, and the raised platform slid into the door slowly. The door slid open to the right, and a rush of cool air blew her hair back and rustled her clothes.

"That's a pretty neat trick." Hinata spun the ring on the middle finger of her right hand absentmindedly while she followed Sasori into the cool hallway. The door slid shut with a click behind her, and she could hear the handle unfolding on the other side, but only the key hole slid back out of the side of the door she could see.

The hallway was well lit, but the walls were dark, and their footsteps echoed down the long corridor. The concrete walls were cold when Hinata dragged her fingertips along them as she walked, switching between the two sides of the hall every minute or so. Sasori turned a corner into a much brighter room, a simple curtain covering the top half of the exposed doorway. Hinata followed him inside, brushing the curtain aside with the back of her hand.

The sudden smell of cinnamon assaulted her senses, the warm scent reminding her of the rare times Sasuke would be up before her in the morning on her birthday and would bake cinnamon rolls for her as a surprise; they were her favorite.

"Hey, are you alright, yeah?" Hinata wiped at her watery eyes and willed the tears back.

"Fine." Her voice was hard. "The smell got me. I'm allergic to cinnamon." The blonde that was holding a tray covered in freshly baked cookies slouched just a bit and slid the tray on top of the oven behind him.

"Woah, I'm sorry, yeah. If I'd have known, I would've made something else." Sasori flicked the shorter man in the forehead as he walked past him. The red-head took a handful of cookies off of the tray and walked around to the bar on the other side of the sink and slouched down into one of the stools. The blonde tugged the oven mitts off of his hands and ran a hand through his long hair. "I'm Deidara, yeah. I used to be Sasori's partner, but you must be his new one. So, what's your name, yeah?" He had the brightest smile she'd ever seen.

"Konan. So you were Sasori's partner? Sorry for taking him away from you." Hinata sat down beside Sasori and watched as Deidara busied himself washing a mixing bowl he'd probably used to make the cookies that smelled amazing, but she knew she couldn't have.

"Not. A. Problem. I should probably be thanking you, yeah. He's the most boring person I know." Hinata smiled at the young man, just the tiniest lift of the lips.

His hair was a golden blonde, parted on the right, his bangs sweeping down to cover one of his eyes, ending just beneath his cheekbone. The blonde locks swept down to his shoulders, stopping just below the base of his neck. He smiled again, and she noticed that whenever he did, his blue eyes would shine handsomely. He had an innocent look, what with the white skinny jeans, black high tops, and the powder blue v-neck shirt under a navy apron that was tied in a bow at the back. Her eyes flickered to the red-head that was eating his fifth cookie and staring at nothing in particular, then back to the blonde that was humming happily while he washed the dishes; she'd never seen two people that seemed so different be in such a close proximity.

She looked around the small kitchenette, breathing in the warm air wafting from the open oven as it cooled. She suddenly wondered why there was a kitchen under a parking garage behind a door that only the Akatsuki could get inside of.

"Why is this down here?" Both men looked at her, and she suddenly felt stupid for asking.

"He lives here." Sasori stole the glass of water from Deidara's hand and downed it, ignoring the pout from the blonde.

"I do a lot of underground," He paused to laugh at the irony of the fact, "Work for the organization. Plus, a lot of what I do would have me behind bars in seconds." Deidara flipped some of his hair back over his shoulder. "That's one place I don't want to go to, yeah." He laughed quietly to himself.

His accent was familiar, and she knew where he was from, but she couldn't quite place it; it was on the tip of her tongue. She'd asked Sasori, and he'd answered no problem, so she figured it would be alright to ask someone that seemed even more friendly than the bored red-head.

"I recognize your accent from somewhere." Deidara stiffened just a little, but it most likely from the sudden temperature change of the warm air to the chilled rush of wind when he leaned into the refrigerator. "Where are you from?" Sasori looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

Deidara relaxed when he peeked over the door. "Iwa." He ducked back inside, rummaging around. Hinata smiled; she'd figured he'd have been from Iwagakure. It was far north of even the northern county of Konoha, and the people there were known for looking like Deidara did. The lilt to his accent was also common to the natives of the small town.

"Thought so. Did-Did you two ever have trouble understanding each other?" Hinata rested her head on her palm, her elbow on the counter of the bar. She forced back her smile at their confused looks. "You're as northern as it gets," She pointed to Deidara, "And you couldn't get more southern even if you wore a cowboy hat and boots all the time." Both men blushed, Sasori rubbing his neck nervously while Deidara fiddled with his hair. Sasori was the first to recover.

"Come on." Sasori hopped down from his tall stool, waiting while Hinata climbed down from hers. Sasori shouldered the curtain out of the way and started down the hall.

"Nice meeting you Deidara." Hinata waved and then left the small kitchen.

"I'll be seeing you quite a bit. No need to be so formal." Hinata blushed at the comment that the blonde had yelled into the hallway. The smell of cinnamon faded and the air seemed less warm as the company of two made their way down the barren hallway, occasionally making a left or right turn as they came.

"Where are we going?"

"You ask a lot of questions." Sasori pushed a door on the left of the hallway open and held it for Hinata. The room was small, but that was mainly because one side of the room was covered entirely by monitors that showed just about every hallway and room in the building. Each screen would flash every few seconds, and the picture would change. "Surveillance room."

Hinata spun one of the two chairs in the room around and sat down, sinking into the comfortable cushions. "Why are we here?"

"Guard duty." Sasori plopped into the chair beside her and turned to face the monitors. He kicked his heavy boots up onto the console in front of him, and she noticed that they were steel-toed. 'Once a southern boy, always a southern boy.' Hinata smiled.

"What exactly are we guarding?" Hinata mimicked his position, her much smaller feet dwarfed by his. She crossed her arms across her chest and leaned back in her seat. Sasori yawned widely, covering his mouth with the back of his hand. He blinked sleepily a few times and stared at her through his peripheral vision.

"I d'know." He closed his eyes.

"You don't know?" He shook his head. "Then how do we know what to look for if we don't know what we're guarding?" Sasori cracked one eye open and sighed loudly.

"When somthin' changes on the screens that ain't s'posed to be there, we take care of it." He tilted his head toward the screen and widened his eyes, daring her to ask another question.

"Alright." It was quiet for a while, about twenty minutes or so. The glow of the screens the only thing lighting up the small room. God her job was boring. She looked at the sleeping man beside her, his rhythmic exhale the only noise aside from the whir of the screens in front of her. "At least I've got something interesting to watch while I'm here." She smiled.

"...I ain't asleep, ya know." Hinata wanted to slap herself.

* * *

"Hey. Shift's over." Hinata hit the ground with a loud thunk, her back already bruising from the impact of hitting the concrete. She cursed quietly to herself.

"What was that for?!" She took Sasori's hand when he offered it to her and let him help her to her feet. She rubbed the middle of her back, which she knew who to thank when it hurt in the morning. Sasori shrugged and walked to the door, opened it, and turned down the hall without checking to see if she'd followed; he knew she would.

Hinata hurried after the red-head, glaring daggers in the back of his head until they reached a bright blue door at the end of the hallway. Sasori knocked quietly on the door and took a step back, hands back in his pockets. Hinata secretly wondered how he could be tired so often. Deidara's blonde head peeked around the edge of the door, and he smiled brightly at the guests.

"Did you come just to see me, yeah?!"

"No. We're leavin'." Sasori turned around, his heavy boots squeaking on the white tiles. He walked back down the dead-end hall and turned right.

"Hmph." The blonde's lower lip jutted out and he crossed his arms in front of him. "He always does this, yeah. I get excited thinking he wants to just say hi, but it's always just to tell me he's leaving. No one ever just visits, yeah." Deidara nudged Hinata's shoulder with his elbow. "Better get going. He'll leave you here, no problem, yeah. Did it to me when I joined two years ago. I was lost here for two days, yeah." He turned and shut the door gently behind him.

Hinata sprinted down the hall to where she'd seen Sasori go, afraid of being left behind in this never-ending labyrinth of concrete walls and tiled floors. She rushed around the corner and bumped into the back of the very person she'd feared had left her.

"Don't fall behind. I won't go back for ya." He jerked his head forward and started off again, Hinata close by his side the entire time.

. . . . .

The motorcycle slid to a stop at the edge of her driveway, and Hinata hurried off of the wretched thing; she'd never get used to riding it. Sasori took her helmet and clipped it to his bike. He tucked his helmet under his arm, carrying it with him while he walked her to her door. She pulled her key out and slid it into the lock, staring at her ring and wishing she had a cool lock like the one on the entrance at the compound.

"Thanks for the ride." She opened her door and stepped inside.

"Just doin' my job." Sasori pulled his helmet back over his head.

"Still. Better than nothing." She shut the door and slid the latch into place. She rested her forehead against the cool metal and smiled tiredly. Now she understood why Sasori was so tired all of the time.

"...Goodnight." It wasn't more than a mumbled word under his breath, but she still heard it come from the other side of the door, followed by loud footsteps as he unintentionally stomped down her porch stops.

Hinata let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. "How on earth did that man sneak into my apartment without me noticing?" She turned and headed for her kitchen, glancing at the clock hanging above the television to the right of her foyer; 4:37am.

It was time for a bowl of Cheerios and some information on a certain red-head partner of hers.

. . . . . .

End Chapter 5!

* * *

1. I feel really good about this chapter, so I won't rant a ton and ruin it. Love you all so much for following this story!

2. So, you were all probably really frustrated that this 'red-head partner' probably isn't the person you were hoping to see. Don't hate me! He comes in later!

3. Just for anyone who cares, Sasori drives a Harley-Davidson 2013 Breakout.

Most boring job on the planet, right? I'd sleep too girl. R & R, Love AMB11!


	6. Chained By Her

I've got a new story, just posted it about a day and a half ago. It's a pretty good read and it's gotten quite a bit of hype. A lot of you that have read the SasuHina aspects of this story began requesting that I actually write one, and here it is:** What You Can't See! **For those of you who asked, the first chapter is up and the second is already being plotted out in my twisted little head.

**ATTENTION!** If you are an available beta-reader or just an editor in general and you'd be interested in working with me for any of my in-progress stories, send me a PM so I can check you out! **THANKS!**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto, Gaara, Hinata, or anything else I must stubbornly agree to not own to write this. *sigh*

**Warning: There is the mention and implication of sex in this chapter, but there is nothing graphic whatsoever. Read on if that is within your moral standards.**

I do have a little contest before we begin though! Last chapter, I introduced Sasori. As you have all noticed, his character is inspired by real things that are either southern habits or just things people in the south do (me being a southerner, I do know what I'm talking about.) The first three people to tell me at least two things about Sasori that are indigenous to the south will get to receive the next chapter one full day before anyone else! Work hard, my readers!

(**EDITED IN: **For all you Sakura bashers!... I hate her too, who I am kidding. Don't worry though. The (lame) SasuSaku part of this story is 100% necessary to the overall plot. It's all explained later in the story why this chapter happens. Stay with me here, because this is still a GaaHina through and through.)

* * *

Chapter 6: Chained By Her

"Sasuke, you can't mope forever man. She'll be back eventually. It's not like she died."

"But she could and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it!" Sasuke's voice was muffled by the pillow he'd buried his face in, but Kiba still heard enough to want to smack some sense into the senior officer.

"You haven't gone to work in three days! They're going to fire you," Kiba pleaded, trying to get Sasuke out of Hinata's bed. "It's only been six weeks since she left. I remember one time she was gone for a whole year, and you didn't turn out like this."

Sasuke tore the sticky cloth of the pillow from his face and turned red-rimmed eyes on the young man that had broken into his house. "I knew where she was that time though, and she still sent me texts the entire time. I don't have a clue where she is, if she's in danger, or if I'll ever see her again. I hate Tsunade for this. Hinata isn't even a part of the undercover section!" Sasuke plopped back down onto the mattress and took a deep breath of the lavender scent that permeated the bed sheets.

"I've never seen you like this." Kiba sat down on the bed beside the larger man and hesitatingly placed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Do you really miss her that much?" Sasuke nodded and shrugged Kiba's hand off of him. The brunette swallowed thickly and folded his hands in his lap. "Sasuke, now's probably not the best time, but, um..." Sasuke rolled onto his back and fixed Kiba with a weak glare that the tattooed young man just ignored. "Do you like Hinata?"

"Of course I do. We've been best friends since we were kids." The dark-haired young man sat up and rubbed at his puffy eyes, his head hanging low. Sasuke breathed out a heavy sigh and turned to the awkward brunette next to him. "Why would you think I didn't like her?"

"That isn't what I meant, Sasuke. And you know it." Kiba flicked the usually stoic man in the forehead.

Sasuke sighed again, then mumbled irritably, "She's practically my little sister. I just don't like that for the first time, I can't keep track of who talks to her or messes with her, or where she is late at night when she's not with me, or of anything that she's doing. It's hard having to let her do something without me, because then she'll grow up just a bit more, and I'll be left behind her." Sasuke propped himself up on the pillows behind him and crossed his legs together.

"It's rough man, but I get it." He leaned back beside Sasuke. "But, if this is what has to happen, you need to go with the flow, ya know?" Kiba grinned toothily at the confused man beside him then sighed exasperatedly. "Hinata is gone for a while, doing who knows what."

"This isn't making me feel better, idiot!" Sasuke pushed at Kiba, trying to knock him off the bed.

"Hey! Wait! Let me make my point!" The brunette dug his fingers into the sheets and held on tightly against the onslaught of the stronger man. Sasuke sat back huffily and cross his arms across his chest, dark eyes glaring intensely at Kiba. '_How does he go from whimpering crybaby to this in just seconds?' _Kiba felt a shiver go down his spine. "Thank you," he paused to straighten his green jacket then continued, "You don't know what she's doing, but for once, she doesn't know what you're doing either. Do you see my point?"

Kiba watched as the gears in Sasuke's mind turned slowly, mulling over the meaning behind his words. "And I should care why? It's not like she controls what I do."

"So you can drink whenever you want?" There was a smug tone in Kiba's voice.

"Well, not exactly. Hinata says that getting intoxicated too often is really bad for my health."

"Oh, but you can stay out as late as you want, right?"

"We both agreed on a midnight curfew on the week-"

"And of course you can have sex with whoever you want on any day you feel like it."

"Now that would just be discourteous to Hinata..." Sasuke trailed off, a blush creeping out across his face as he realized that the only defenses he could come up with involved the most important person in his life... Who was currently not around to enforce said rules.

"Face it man. You two aren't even involved." Kiba paused to send Sasuke a questioning look to ensure that he had it right, and understood perfectly when Sasuke returned the look with one of outright disgust and horror at the thought. "Right, not involved, but she's got you seriously whipped. If you're afraid she's out there changing and leaving you behind, do a bit of changing yourself. Catch up to her, if you know what I mean." Kiba clapped Sasuke on the back and stood, stretching his right shoulder until it popped. The brunette wandered over to the door and paused at the door frame to look back on the young man that seemed to be deep in thought. He bent down and picked a shoe up off of the floor and chucked it at him, pleased when it knocked Sasuke out of the mussed up bed.

"What the-!" Sasuke started and threw the shoe back at Kiba hard enough to put a hole through the brunette's head. Kiba ducked under the projectile and ran into the hallway in case Sasuke could find anything else to throw at him.

"Get dressed for the day, man. I'm taking you out today with some people from work. You need to get out of this place."

Sasuke glared at Kiba until the brunette scurried off down the hall towards the kitchen. "I hate people," Sasuke said while he slowly got to his feet and headed for the bathroom.

* * *

"Have I actually met any of these people?" Sasuke shoved his hands into the pockets of his dark wash jeans and rested his thumbs on the buckle of his black and white checkered belt.

"Probably not. They all work in different divisions at the station, but you may recognize a face or two. We're meeting Shikamaru, Shino and Kankuro down at the train station and picking the girls up at the mall in about an hour.

"I know Shino, I think. He dated Hinata for a while back in high school. Haven't seen him in a while." Sasuke stopped at the crosswalk and pulled at a string on the hem of his navy blue graphic design v-neck. The taller of the two froze when he heard the shorter snickering behind him. Sasuke's eyebrows knitted together in confusion before he turned back to look at Kiba, and froze midway. His eyes widened in horror.

"Yeah, he's single. Are you interested?" Kiba put his hand on the smiling blonde woman's shoulder and pointed at Sasuke with his thumb. That was all the raven-haired man needed to hear. Sasuke smirked devilishly and sauntered over to his companion and the woman beside him, slinging his arm around Kiba's shoulder once he'd reached them.

"Who's your friend, baby?" Sasuke nuzzled his nose into the frozen brunette's hair. "You better not be cheating on me again," he said with an incredibly beautiful pout. Sasuke glared at the panicking blonde and huffed, flipping his hair in the process. "We're leaving." He took Kiba's hand and stormed across the walk way to the other side of the street, dragging the poor brunette until they'd gotten out of view of their one-person audience.

"What the heck was that!" Kiba wrenched his hand away from Sasuke's slack grip, his face almost the same color red as the tattoos that adorned it. "I was just trying to help you out."

"So you try to set me up with the first woman that asks a question about me?" Sasuke raised one of his dark eyebrows in question and shoved his hands back into his pockets with a smirk. "You didn't notice that she was a talent scout of some sort?" He took off down the crowded sidewalk at a brisk pace.

Kiba hurried after Sasuke, breathing deeply to calm his frantic heartbeat. '_Hinata always said this guy was a stick in the mud. He seems like a crazy person to me.' _The brunette fell into step with his companion and shook his head in response to his question. "How did you notice? You barely said two words to the girl."

"First off, she was carrying a clipboard." Sasuke looked down on Kiba condescendingly, a knowing smirk pulling at his lips; Kiba wanted to smack it from his face. "Second, she didn't give off the vibe of someone that was looking at me romantically. That lady probably wanted me to do an audition for an agency or something. Happens all the time." Sasuke ran a hand through his bangs and stopped at the busy intersection. Kiba pressed the crossing button on the tall pole to his right.

"Seriously? How often?" Kiba unzipped his green hoodie and let it sag off his shoulders to the crook of his elbows, then folded his arms across his chest, wrinkling his black tank top.

Sasuke rubbed the spiky hair on the back of his head in thought, then turned to the brunette beside him. "You tell me."

"Would either of you happen to be interested in signing up for Taka Modeling Agency's biannual 'New Faces' modeling auditions coming up next month? We'd love to see you there." Kiba peeked around Sasuke to the tall red-head that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere beside them, clipboard held tightly to her purple blouse. She pushed her glasses up on her nose and glanced quickly between the two young men in front of her before pulling two business cards from the back pocket of her black skinny jeans and holding them out in front of her. "We don't need to know right away. If you'd like to audition, go ahead and give me a call. Thanks!"

Kiba and Sasuke watched her leave, before pocketing the cards and walking across the street once the traffic came to a standstill. "First time I've ever been scouted," Kiba said with a smile, a slight bounce in his step.

"I get it just about everywhere I go. It's almost as annoying as girls I don't know giving me creepy stares whenever I go see a movie without Hinata or out to dinner after work."

"Maybe you should wear a wedding ring or something. That'd turn most of them away." Kiba poked Sasuke in the side. "Or maybe kiss some random guy on the street. That'd turn away the rest of them." Kiba ran down the steps to the subway as fast as his legs could carry him, trying his hardest to ignore the fact that the man angrily chasing him was most likely carrying a gun.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Kiba! Good to see ya, man. How've ya been?" Kiba hurried over to the group of men waiting near the entrance, ignoring the bump on the back of his head, courtesy of Sasuke's fist.

"Pretty good, except for the little tag along here. One smart comment and he's already trying to beat me up. I'm just glad that he didn't have handcuffs," Kiba said as he clasped hands with Kankuro. Sasuke shuffled around the two when they started chatting and headed over to the man waiting quietly by the subway rails.

"Bug boy? And Boss man." The brunette turned at the call of his name, the high collar of his jacket obscuring his neck and a good part of his face. Shikamaru nodded in greeting before leaning his head back against the wall behind him and closing his eyes again, dead to the world.

"Uchiha? Been a while." Shino stood and clasped hands with Sasuke before pulling him into a manly hug. They pulled away and Sasuke smiled. "How's my baby girl been?" Shino said with a wistful gleam in his eye.

"I wouldn't know. She disappeared a little over a month ago without even saying goodbye. I asked Tsunade about it, but she just said she'd sent her undercover to somewhere top secret and that she'd be back when her job was done." Sasuke rubbed the back of his neck and turned to head back over to where Kiba and Kankuro appeared to be seconds away from beating the crap out of the other. Shino quickly fell into step with his old friend.

"I don't think I've had the pleasure of meetin' this guy yet. Name's Kankuro Sabaku." Sasuke shook the hand that was offered to him.

"Sasu-"

"KANKURO! Get your butt over here!" Sasuke saw everyone around him flinch at the volume of the blonde woman's voice, then swallowed thickly when he realized who the woman was. The short blonde charged down the concrete steps and raced over to the group of men, her entire body tensed up, clipboard held tightly in her left hand. She probably only came up to his shoulder, and most likely didn't even weigh half as much as he did, but Sasuke instinctively took a step back and behind Kiba when she got within spitting range.

"The devil's beatin' his wife right 'bout now," Kankuro whispered to himself before turning to face the approaching blonde with a smile. "Temari! What a pleasant surp-" Kankuro flew back several feet and collapsed to the ground, holding his aching jaw and looked up fearfully when Temari stood over him and dragged him up to her face by the collar of his black shirt, a dark bruise breaking out across the knuckles of the hand she'd punched him with.

"You may have won the bet last night, but there is no way I am standin' out there on the street while you go off and prance around with your friends! You said you would go and look for Gaara if I went and did your job, but I followed your gay friends down here when I recognized the little one, and here I find you chattin' it up!" Kankuro looked at Kiba and Sasuke questioningly at the gay comment, but was quickly brought back to the situation at hand when Temari started shaking him violently.

"Temari! He's been gone for years now. I don't think he's coming back, so what's the point in looking anymore?" The brunette hissed out between his teeth. Kankuro heaved the girl off of him and got to his feet, rubbing the spot on his face where she'd punched him. "Did you finish what I told you to do?" Temari shoved the clipboard into Kankuro's hands and nodded, her blonde hair swishing around her shoulders.

"That's your sister? I barely recognized her without her hair up. I'd like to explain the earlier situation..." Kiba trailed off when Temari glared at him furiously. "Okay, maybe another time." Kankuro put his arm around his sister's shoulders and turned her away from his friends to speak a little more privately with her.

"Come on Temari, calm down. I know I promised, and I know I got you to do some of my job for me, but I've been plannin' this day out for weeks. I haven't had a day off of work since I took you out to Southern to visit your friends last time, and even then I just ended up carryin' your bags the entire time. Let your little brother have some fun every once and a while, m'kay?" Kankuro looked down at Temari, the purple paint around his eyes making the dark brown of his irises shine in contrast. A small smile lit up his face when she cast her eyes downward and to the left, a habit he'd learned over the years that meant he was about to get his way.

"Fine. I just... Next time don't promise me something that really means a lot to me. You got my hopes up again." Temari crossed her arms across her chest and frowned, her vision slightly watery.

"I know it means a lot to you." Kankuro lowered his voice to a whisper and spoke a little closer to her ear. "I wish he'd come back too. You've still got the other baby brother though." He smiled when she got up onto her tiptoes and pulled him into a hug.

"Yeah, but if you get any taller than me I'll have to put a brick on top of your head to keep you from growin'." Temari ruffled Kankuro's messy hair and pushed him back towards the guys that looked like they were holding a conversation, but were most likely eavesdropping on the sibling's tiff.

"Hold off on throwin' bricks at my person for today. You already socked me a good one and it ain't even past noon." Kankuro rubbed his jaw, a smile lighting up his eyes. Temari linked her arm around his and walked back over to the rest of the group with her brother. "Okay guys. For those of you who don't know, this is my older sister, Temari. Now what is this I hear about gays and you two?" The brunette pointed his index finger between Sasuke and Kiba.

"Kiba tried to pawn me off to her and I used the excuse of being gay to get away unscathed. You don't know how many times I've been under the threat of rape because I went on a date with someone I barely knew," Sasuke explained quickly, Kiba nodding along in assent.

"Makes sense to me," Shino mumbled around his jacket collar.

"In a really weird way, sure. Alright, Temari. This is Shino, Shikamaru, Kiba, and..." Kankuro bit his lip, embarrassed that he hadn't gotten to learn the name of everyone there.

Sasuke smiled assuredly, and visibly saw the make-up wearing brunette relax. The black-haired man took a step forward, took Temari's hand in his and brought it to his lips. "Sasuke Uchiha." Kankuro's eyes widened, and he knew Temari felt him tense, but felt relieved when she didn't say anything. "Nice to meet you."

Temari looked at him knowingly and wagged a finger in his smirking face. "I knew you weren't gay." Sasuke laughed just as the train pulled up. The group hurried over to it and piled in through the door.

"Where do you think you're going, Missy?" Kankuro stopped his sister at the door and held her at arms' length.

"I'm coming with you!" Temari gave him a look that clearly said he couldn't do anything to make her change her mind, so the much larger man stepped aside to let her into the train car.

"You are so afraid of her," Kiba said once Kankuro had sat down beside him.

"Mainly because I know how many years she was a semi-pro lightweight boxer down south. I think I'd die if I tried to fight her for real." The edges of Kankuro's lips twitched upwards into a smile as he watched Shino lift his sister up so she could reach the rings hanging down in the middle of the train car. He glanced at the man sitting across from him that was lost in conversation with Shikamaru.

_'Sasuke Uchiha. I need to have a word with you.' _

* * *

"Kiba!" Sasuke heard the girl's voice before he saw her, but when the loud, platinum blonde finally came into view, he immediately knew that he didn't recognize her. The blonde's friend, however, did seem just a little bit too familiar. "Hey babe! It's been too long." The blonde was kissing Kiba senseless before the poor man had even made it to the door of the shopping mall. Sasuke visibly jumped when he felt someone sneak up behind him and hands slip over his ears to cover his eyes.

"Guess who!" Sasuke smirked and felt the young woman behind him giggle to herself.

"If I had to guess, I'd have to say it's an annoying little pink-haired woman that tried to set me up with a man that worked at a tattoo parlor." He turned around and said annoying pink-haired woman wrapped her arms around his neck, her lower lip jutting out in a pout. "Oh, look. I was right." Sasuke's smirk widened when her pout deepened.

"That's mean. You know it wasn't me." Sakura took a step back and turned around, glancing at him over her shoulder. "Now, the one that you made out with when she visited you the next day, that was me." The pink-haired woman strutted back over to her blonde friend and Kiba, instantly joining into the friendly conversation.

Shikamaru turned to look at the two brunettes and blonde next to him. "Why is it I can't get a woman?" Kankuro waggled his eyebrows at his sister, laughing when Temari punched him lightly on the arm and rolled her eyes, sneaking a peek at Shikamaru from the corner of her eye when their attention was somewhere else.

"Don't even think about it." She blushed behind her hair when he caught her staring and smiled.

The group made their way into the shopping mall and Sakura led the way to the small cafe in the middle of the food court they had apparently planned to eat at where they quickly ordered and pulled several tables together so they could talk.

"So what're the plans for today Ino?" Kiba smiled warmly at his girlfriend, his arm draped around the back of her chair, playing with the long blonde ponytail that trailed down her dark purple shirt to the middle of her back.

Ino glanced at Sakura and the two shared a grin that had Sasuke regretting the decision to come. "Say, Temari. Do you like to shop?" The darker blonde at the table nodded enthusiastically, a grin breaking out across her face. "Plans made." Ino batted her eyelashes at Kiba and nuzzled the top of her head under his chin.

Sasuke glared in Kiba's direction, the rest of the male population at the table quickly following suit. The brunette shrugged and grinned weakly before the three young women got to their feet and hurried to dump the trash from their trays. They were out the door in seconds.

"Way to go man. Now we're all gonna be broke by the end of the day." Kankuro kicked Kiba, who was sitting across from him, under the table. The tattooed brunette stood, clutching his injured leg and holding onto the back of his chair for balance. Shino leaned back in his chair from beside the injured man and kicked the other leg out from under him, smiling behind his collar when Kiba fell to the ground with a grunt of pain.

"Debt paid." Shino pushed his chair in and collected the other trays, taking his time to walk to the trashcan. Temari heaved the glass doors of the cafe open and sprinted back over to the table, throwing her arms around her brother's neck in a headlock.

"Come on baby brother. Big sissy needs some new heels." She pressed her cheek against his, careful to avoid the painstakingly-done face paint that covered the area around his eyes in intricate designs. Kankuro looked at her pleadingly, but her grin just grew bigger. "Please!"

Kankuro sighed, but dug his wallet out of his back pocket and handed it reluctantly to her over his shoulder. Temari kissed his tan cheek soundly and ran back towards the door. Shikamaru smirked at Kankuro and ducked under the fist the brunette swung his direction.

"This is why I'm glad I'm an only child. You are so whipped bro," Kiba, who had finally gotten off of the floor once an elderly couple had started giving him strange looks, said loudly and dragged Sasuke to his feet by the collar of his shirt. "Come on, your make out buddy is waiting for you." Sasuke stumbled a bit when Kiba pushed him out the door, and had just managed to get his balance when he was dragged out of sight by the three young women, and even a few girls the other guys didn't recognize.

"I feel like we just sacrificed someone... Should we do something?" Shikamaru glanced out the door warily, Kiba, Kankuro and Shino hanging back behind him in fear.

* * *

"Since when do we have a cellar?" Kankuro dug the crowbar into the small gap between the two wooden doors on the ground and heaved the one on the right open, quickly plugging his nose at the musty scent that wafted out of the cellar. "No way I'm going down there. It smells worse than Kiba after a shift at the dog-training compound. Good luck."

"Since about eighty years before we lived in this house, idiot," Temari breathed out once her brother had left, then took a step down into the cellar to test the safety of the stairs. She paused when she heard someone call her name.

"When was the last time someone went down there?" Shikamaru held onto the rail that ran down into the dark below and hurried down beside the blonde woman, ducking to avoid hitting his head on the concrete ceiling above him.

"I stock this place every few weeks. This is just where I hid my stash from my brothers, but no one else would come open the door for me except for Brother Dearest. I'll have to find a new hiding place now that Kankuro knows." Temari stepped off of the rickety wooden steps and used the light from her phone screen to move around the room. She made a small noise in the back of her throat when she located a large cardboard box behind the steps. She picked it up with just a little difficulty and carried it back to the open part of the room, dropping it not-so-delicately to the ground. "Hope everyone's okay with beer. I don't have anything fancier."

"It's a bunch of men. I don't think many of them will be looking for an umbrella drink."

"Hey, I offered you all booze as compensation for earlier. Don't get smart with me Nara or I'll suplex you through a second story window." Shikamaru grunted in disbelief.

"You mean defenestration."

"What?" The blonde looked up at Shikamaru, the tape she'd been tearing off the box in hand.

"The act of throwing someone or something out of a window. De-fe-ne-stra-tion." Shikamaru smirked at her when she all but growled at him and went back to pulling tape from the box.

"I'm warning you Nara," She bit out between clenched teeth. He thought she looked cute when she was angry.

"Shikamaru. You don't have to call me by my last name. No one does." He smiled. Temari glared at Shikamaru and thrust the box into his hands, turning back around to get another box, missing when the man shrunk a bit under the weight of the drinks in his hands. The lazy man stared at the small blonde's back in confusion, then back to the box in his hands.

_How the heck did she-_ He froze mid-thought when Temari turned around, her cell phone between her teeth, two boxes stacked in her hands, and hurried back over to the steps. Shikamaru's eyes widened, and he was vaguely aware that his mouth was hanging open.

"Get a move on Nara or I'll lock you down there." He climbed up the steps behind her, a disbelieving smile lighting up his face the entire way; she was interesting. He suddenly found her earlier threat to be a little bit more believable.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Hey, Uchiha. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Sasuke opened his eyes and looked up, surprised to see Kankuro hovering over him. The Uchiha sat up and set his beer on the table in front of him before standing and following the brunette into a room that led into a back hallway. It was quiet once he'd left the room, which was surprising considering the racket that the drunk company was making not even twenty feet away.

"What do you need Sabaku?" Sasuke followed Kankuro down the hall, up a flight of stairs and into a room on the right side of the hall. He figured it to be Kankuro's bedroom, judging by the jar of face paint on a dresser in front of a large mirror on the wall and the pile of men's clothing on the floor in one corner of the room. Sasuke waited from the door, watching as Kankuro dug through a few drawers in the desk that was up against the wall at the foot of the bed, obviously looking for something.

"I'm not supposed to have this, but I did it because your partner specifically asked me to." Sasuke flinched at the mention of Hinata, but took a few steps into the room when the brunette motioned for him to enter. Kankuro grinned and stood from his crouch when he found what he'd been looking for, walking over to Sasuke with it tucked into the palm of his hand. "Hold on to it until she comes back, but I'm going to need you to delete anything that's on it that could be important once you've read through it. I'd really like to keep my job and I'm sure the same goes for you." Sasuke nodded, and took the small purple object from Kankuro. "Hope it helps."

Sasuke frowned down on the cell phone that sat in his hand, not even noticing that he was all alone in the room until he heard a door slam downstairs and he was torn from his thoughts. "So she doesn't even have it with her. How is this supposed to help me feel better?" Sasuke flipped the phone open and turned it on, waiting as it booted up and loaded all new messages. He only felt slightly guilty at reading through Hinata's phone, but figured it was alright considering, from what Kankuro had told him, that Hinata had meant for him to have it in the first place.

Sasuke chuckled quietly to himself when he realized that pretty much all of the messages were from him, only two or three of the thirty texts having not been recorded under his name. "Who else?" He scrolled down through the messages to the first few that had been sent on the day Hinata hadn't returned home just a few weeks ago.

First message: Sakura Haruno

_Good luck Hina. _

Sasuke smiled at the message. At least he wasn't the only one worried about her.

Second message: Sakura Haruno

_I hope you're doing alright wherever you are. Where did you end up anyways? I'm worried. _

"This is why I like you Sakura. You love Hinata almost as much as I do." Sasuke scrolled up through the rest of the messages, the rest either being from him or a chain-letter text from random telemarketers. He deleted all of his messages and saved Sakura's to the memo pad on the phone so Hinata could read them when she came back. A date on one of the messages caught his eye before he closed the app. "What's that?" Sasuke scrolled back up to a note that had been made the same day Sakura had sent her messages. His dark eyes widened when he opened it, and despite his efforts not to, he felt a few tears escape his eyes and roll down his cheeks.

_'She went to the Akatsuki.'_ Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek and clenched his eyes shut. He wanted to punch something, have something he could beat senseless. _'I wonder if Tsunade is still awake. I would kill to be able to hit her over the head with a glass bottle right now.' _Sasuke slammed the screen of the phone shut hard enough to break it and crammed it inside his pocket. He wiped his face off with the sleeve of his shirt and checked his appearance in the mirror before heading to the door.

He stepped out into the hallway, surprised when he saw a flash of pink hair peek around the corner near the stairs. "Sasuke?" A small smile flashed across his face, and he felt just a little bit of the weight settle off of his heavy chest. _'She came to look for me.' _Sakura stepped out of the stairwell and into the hallway, grinning brightly once she saw Sasuke a few doors down. "There you are. I was getting worried since you left and didn't come back for a while. Everything okay?"

"Fine." Sasuke walked up to the smiling young woman and placed a hand on the back of her neck, suddenly leaning down to kiss her. He felt her tense up for just a minute, but he'd expected that anyway. Sasuke pulled away from Sakura, pleased when he saw her face glowing a pretty pink that matched her hair. "Would you be against the idea of paying my house another visit tonight?" Her gaze was glued firmly to her shoes, but Sasuke smirked when she shook her head shyly and allowed him to lead her back down the stairs by her hand. _'Seems I've found my outlet.'_

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"I told you not to call me anymore babe, it's too dangerous. I've got eyes on me at all times and I don't want to get caught. You understand, right?" The voice on the other end of the line was hushed and deep.

"But I miss you so much," she whispered into the black phone in her hand, the sheet clutched to her chest tightly. "You don't know how hard it is for me to not be able to see you anymore." The young woman glanced to the man laying beside her under the bed sheet, his hair ruffled from their earlier activities. "I did what you told me to, just so you know. It wasn't easy."

"I know, and I'll be sure to punish you later since I'm sure you had to get it the information in some way I wouldn't like." A bit of static rushed over the line before it cleared back up again; he always had bad reception whenever she called him.

"I'll be waiting for it." The man beside her threw an arm around her waist in his sleep, and she smiled at the relaxed expression on his handsome face. "I've got him here with me, but I don't want to wake him up. He was pretty tired before we went to sleep, but I'm not sure how long he'll stay that way. If he's like you, he'll sleep for an hour then want to go again. On the other hand, you've got stamina for miles that most guys don't."

"Thanks for the flattery hon, but why did you really call me? I know you wouldn't chance something this dangerous unless you actually had something important to say, not that everything you say isn't important to me."

She flipped a bit of her hair off of her bare shoulder and fought back the smile that tried to force its' way onto her lips. She held the object of her excitement up in front of her and read over the words on the screen again. "You'll never guess who's hiding right under your nose. Guess who!" Her eyes lit up with a twisted sense of joy at the game. "You've got an agent running around in Akatsuki, and she's a pretty little thing."

The man on the other end of the line grunted in affirmation, a slightly crooked smile tugging at his lips. "If it's who I suspect, I've already got something planned out for her. Does anyone know you found out she's here?" Another wave of static rushed through the line as the call began to break up.

"No. I got it straight from the source, but no one knows that I found out."

"Yeah? You done good babe, thanks for confirming my suspicion. I love you."

"Love you too!" She whispered excitedly into the receptor just as the line died. She ended the phone call and dropped her black razor on top of her jeans, which were on the ground beside the bed, then shoved the purple phone back into the pocket of her bed mate's pants.

Sakura ran a hand through Sasuke's hair and then snuggled back under the sheets beside him. She placed a kiss on his neck, grinning when he groaned in his sleep. She was going to celebrate her success tonight, because she'd finally done what her boyfriend had told her to. She'd be looking forward to that punishment he'd promised.

. . . . . . . .

End Chapter 6.

* * *

1. Meheheh... I'm evil.

2. Beating the devil's wife is actually a saying that refers to when the sun is in the sky, but it's still raining. Weird saying, right? Kankuro used it to refer to the beating his sister was going to give him though, probably thinking that the devil (Temari) was going to beat his wife (Kankuro).

3. Now the plot seriously takes a turn. Let me know if you liked this.

R & R if you wanna know what happens next after this major twist of events. Love, AMB11!


	7. Involved

I've gotten some hateful comments about the last chapter, mostly about Sakura even being in the story in the first place. I really don't like her either (sorry if you do ship Sasuke and Sakura together), so I'm right there with you, SasuSaku bashers. However, I will say that if you think it doesn't have a place in the story, I'll tell you that it's actually super important. Also, **HINT** here: What was Sasuke drinking before he decided he wanted to take his anger out on something? Intoxicated, upset, and the first girl he saw. Not a good combination people!

Lots of reviews for last chapter, even if they weren't all nice. Thank you guys for telling me your thoughts though!

This chapter takes place one day after the last one, so technically, it's the next morning.

ALL FOR SASUHINA AND GAAHINA! My favorite would be GaaHina because I'm an uuber Gaara fan and Hinata is my favorite kunoichi. Tell me which of the two is your favorite!

Note for Madara's character in here: Think of a combination between his Tobi half and the Madara half. I needed the serious name of Madara, but I couldn't pass up the chance to use Tobi's personality. (Tobi is not an Akatsuki member in this.)

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto!

* * *

Chapter 7: Involved

"Boss, I need to talk to you." Tsunade looked up from the paperwork she'd been attempting to read over for the past hour and pulled her glasses from her nose.

"What is it Nara?" Shikamaru shut the door and made his way across the room, then took his time in sitting and getting comfortable in one of the arm chairs in front of her desk; he was stalling. His dark eyes ran over the open file in his hand once again. Tsunade waited for the far-off look in his gaze to fade before she eventually grew impatient and threw a paperweight at him to get his attention. "What's got you so freaked?" She leaned back in her chair and pulled her bare feet up under her, resting on her knees.

"You know how we've had an intel leak for the past few months, right?" He averted his eyes when she just rolled hers.

"Great way to start Nara. I really like where this is going."

"Right... Well, someone," Shikamaru paused to clear his throat when his voice cracked, then continued, "Someone hacked into the filing department sometime last night and stole a bit of information." He flinched, almost expecting her to hit him.

Tsunade's carefree smile dropped immediately from her lips. She held her hand out to the man in front of her, and he passed her the file he'd been staring at since he'd entered the room. The blonde pushed her reading glasses back on and skimmed over the document quickly, shock registering on her face the longer she read. Shikamaru dropped his head and lowered his voice to a whisper in case anyone was listening.

"They took everything we have blueprint-wise, even construction records for every house or company that's been built in the city within the past twenty years since the station was expanded. Even left a virus behind on our software so we'd have difficulty tracking the original hacker." Shikamaru laced his fingers together and rested his chin on top of his hands, sliding his eyes closed.

"Have we gotten anything running yet?" Shikamaru shook his head, his frown deepening so much that wrinkles creased his forehead.

"Even I'm having difficulty cracking it, but I do have people working on it right now. It's got a few elements similar to something that attacked us a few years back, but it's just different enough that I can't do what I did last time to solve it." He spit out his words, as if he were ashamed to admit the truth behind them.

Tsunade's lips tightened to a grim slash. "You mean with the Itachi case? He became a runner years ago."

"You mean the court dropped his case years ago when we couldn't prove anything."

Tsunade glared at the spiky-haired young man. "We know he did it. He's just a sly little weasel and was able to worm his way out of trouble. We haven't heard anything out of him since the last time he hacked us and got the information on the high security prison, though. There weren't even any attempts at escape until three years after that, and we aren't even sure that was a related incident. Why would he go after blueprints again? For something like residential neighborhoods at that."

"We don't think it was him," Shikamaru said. "Whoever it was also got everything we know about the missing-Uzumaki case. It would most likely be someone directly involved in the case itself."

"Do you think it was the Akatsuki? You were aware that I suspected them in the kidnapping, right?" Shikamaru nodded his head slowly and took a deep breath.

"The hacker didn't go after information about the Uzumaki family or even the murder, which would've made more sense if Akatsuki was involved. They went after our involvement in the case. About the officer in the field," He said grimly. Tsunade's lips parted as her eyebrows knitted together.

"Who else is there to suspect? Hinata?" The words left a bitter taste in her mouth. "That'd be improbable though. She's out there right now getting information about the Uzumaki, and there'd be no point in breaking into the police station to get her own files. She'd already know everything in them, so there'd be no point."

"That's what we can't figure out. If that last bit of information hadn't been taken, she'd be our prime suspect. That's what has got us thrown for a major loop." Tsunade picked up a stack of papers that was perched on her desk and dropped them to the ground, digging around underneath several layers of work she hadn't filed until she uncovered a sleek cell phone that had been buried among the rubbish. She dialed one and held the phone to her cheek, waiting for the call to connect. "What're you-" Tsunade held a finger to her lips and Shikamaru cut himself off.

"Hello? Yes. Connect me to the Amegakure Chief of Police. Yes, I'll hold. Thank you." Shikamaru raised an eyebrow in question. Tsunade mouthed the words 'You'll see' then jumped when static crackled over the line as the call was connected.

"Tsunade, darling! It's been so long. To what do I owe the pleasure?" The blonde woman flinched at the overly happy voice that floated over the line.

"Madara, it has been a while, hasn't it? I actually have a case here and I need to speak with a certain nephew of yours. Is he in?" She put the phone on speaker and set it on the desk. There was a bit of rustling over the line, and Tsunade heard Madara talking to someone before his high voice filled the phone speakers again.

"He is, but he refuses to speak to you if you're going to try to arrest him again." Shikamaru flinched at the out-of-place laughter at the end of the sentence and sent Tsunade a look that clearly said 'Are you serious about this guy?' She nodded, her expression of displeasure set in stone.

"It's not about him. It involves the Akatsuki."

It was no more than five seconds before the phone switched users, the almost childish voice of Madara evolving into a deep, velvety tone that smoothed Tsunade's nerves instantly and also grated on them just as badly. "Hello, Beautiful. What exactly can I do for you?" Shikamaru felt an involuntary shiver run down his spine at the depth behind the man's voice.

"Itachi, I don't have time for your games right now. I need you to listen to me very carefully. Someone hacked us last night-"

"I do hope you aren't going to suspect me again, Tsunade. That would be embarrassing to fail twice in trying to convict me."

"Just shut it Uchiha and listen to me!" Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose and forced herself to take a deep breath; the Uchiha family always got on her nerves. Sometimes she wished they'd all just disappear. "I've heard that you've been working undercover for your uncle in the Akatsuki for the past several years. Am I correct?"

"Does that matter?" Itachi asked after a brief pause. Shikamaru scooted away from the desk when Tsunade's face began to turn red in fury.

"Yes, it jolly-well does matter you arrogant little prick!" Tsunade slammed her fist down onto her desk, leaving a decent dent in the wood. "I've got an agent that's been there for a while now, and last night this agent's files were stolen along with blueprints for over half of Central Konoha. You listening now?"

"For the most part, I suppose I'm paying attent-"

The door to Tsunade's office slammed open and interrupted the comment Itachi was about to make that Shikamaru felt certain would've had his boss blowing her top. Shino hurried into the room, his coat hanging open and his sunglasses clutched tightly in his hand. "Haruno cracked the virus. We were successful in tracking the hacker back to the source." The brunette made his way around the desk, Tsunade relinquishing the chair and grabbing her cell phone, positive that a certain Uchiha was listening in. Shino jammed a flash drive into the port on the computer and loaded a page quickly, Shikamaru moving around behind him to get a clear view of the screen. "The signal came through last night at 4:23 a.m. from this address by way of mobile phone. The virus left behind came from an email that automatically opened at 4:30 and was sent by the same user." Shikamaru's eyes widened in surprise. '_The signal hacked in at the exact moment we had a shift change down in security.'_

"Aburame, go get the retrieval squad and move out immediately. I want a full perimeter watch around that house. Shikamaru, head down to paperwork and get me a search and arrest warrant. Both of you be ready to move in thirty minutes or more than one person is gonna be fired by lunchtime. Move!" Tsunade ushered both men from behind her desk and towards the door.

"But, Tsunade. That's-"

"I know who it is!" Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose again and exhaled loudly before staring up at Shino and Shikamaru with her honey-colored eyes. "I won't let another person from that family get out of my jurisdiction. Bring me Sasuke Uchiha, now!" The room grew quiet once she shut the door behind them. Tsunade dragged her feet as she walked back over to her swivel chair and plopped herself down into it. Rustling from the speaker on her phone brought her out of her thoughts and back to the situation at hand.

"You've got my attention," Itachi said, his voice firm and almost robotic.

"Good to know. I'll ask once more. Have you been keeping an eye on the Akatsuki?"

"Of course." Tsunade felt a wave of relief wash over her at the sudden cooperation.

"I need you to relay a message to a certain agent I've got undercover there for me since it's been a while since we last had contact."

"Is this the person who's information was stolen?"

"Does it matter?" Tsunade waited for a moment, but when the only thing she heard was the hiss of static, she continued, "I need you to tell them to get a move on and uncover where the Akatsuki is keeping the Uzumaki and to bring the brat home immediately once he's found."

There was a slight pause before Itachi responded, "I'll deliver the message. I'd also like to offer my services in searching for the Uzumaki in exchange for one thing."

"What is it?" Tsunade put her head down on her desk and rubbed at her eyes tiredly.

"Sasuke is kept in holding and interrogation until I can get down there and find who's responsible for framing him." Itachi's voice came out in a growl that had the hairs on the back of Tsunade's neck standing on end.

"You don't think he did it even though the signal came from inside his home when he was there all by himself? Seems a bit suspicious to me."

"Do we have a deal or not?"

"You have two weeks to get me the culprit behind this before your little brother is out of my hands and in a court of law if my officers find anything against him. Good luck, Uchiha."

"One last thing. How exactly am I supposed to recognize this officer if I don't know who it is?" Tsunade felt a smile break out across her lips even as she noticed the police cars pulling out of the garage down below her window; her men were moving awfully fast for a Monday morning.

"I'm sure you know them, probably even done a job or two together. Think back a while to when someone new joined that was from Konoha. You'll recognize them immediately, and most likely feel kind of stupid for not being suspicious of them in the first place. He's a hard character to miss."

"Understood." She heard the recognition in his voice; it felt good to speak with someone as intelligent as Itachi every once in a while, even if he'd irritated her enough to hang up the phone before he'd even finished speaking.

* * *

"You seriously have no clue what it is we're spending nine hours every other night guarding?" Hinata set her knife down on the cutting board in front of her and rinsed her hands off under the faucet, glancing over her shoulder to the red-head seated at her kitchen table.

"Not a clue." Sasori tore another piece off of the napkin he'd been occupying himself with and checked his watch for the umpteenth time in the past five minutes since he'd shown up at Hinata's apartment. "I never asked anybody 'bout it. If I needed to know, someone would've told me." He shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess that makes sense." Hinata turned the faucet off and hurried over to the stove, using a mitt to pull the pan of bread out of the oven. "Well, since you're here, have you eaten anything?"

"Not since yesterday... At sometime... I think." The red-head's face flushed just a bit and he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. Hinata smiled and got an extra plate down out of her cabinet. _'I'll never understand why this guy works so hard every day, even though he's not even sure what it is he's doing. I've got to give him some respect for this. He's not even a double agent, and he's doing twice as much as me in one day.' _She walked across the tiled floor and set the two plates down at his seat and the one across from it.

"You're ridiculous Sasori. Were you at work or did you just forget to eat again?"

"I, uh... Yeah." Brown eyes left blue, Sasori attempting to seem interested in some invisible lint on his gray shirt.

"That didn't answer my question." Hinata saw him smirk and just rolled her eyes. "Anyways, why are you here? It's just after noon. We worked last night, so I didn't think we'd be going anywhere tonight." She sat the small plate of burgers down on the table beside Sasori and sat down in her chair.

"Would you rather I left?" Sasori set his burger down and wiped his hands on his shredded napkin. Hinata shook her head frantically, the bells tied around the bun in her hair ringing quietly. The red-head chuckled to himself, hiding his smile behind his hand. "Alright then." He took a bite of the veggies on his plate. "And I'm here because the boss told me he wanted us to go to the compound tonight. Don't ask why, 'cuz I dunno."

"Why so early then? Knowing Pein he doesn't want us there until it'll be sure to disrupt our sleep schedule." Hinata drew her legs up under her to get more comfortable. She leaned her cheek against the palm of her hand, her elbow resting on the table.

"There's a front coming in soon and I-" A crash of thunder rattled the house, the light above the table flickering for a moment before everything settled back and it grew quiet. Sasori raised his incredibly blonde eyebrows and laced his fingers together under his chin. "My point is made. I really didn't want to drive in that." The rain started a few minutes after, sprinkling lightly until they saw a flash of lightning streak across the sky through the kitchen window. The wind picked up a bit.

"Hey, didn't you ride your bike here?"

"Crap!" Hinata took a sip of her drink and watched as Sasori scrambled to his feet and towards the front door. She hurried after him, nearly running into his back when he stopped abruptly at the end of the hallway.

"You don't even have a coverin' over your porch." Hinata heard him swear under his breath, and took a step back when he spun around quickly, his boots squeaking on the wood floor of her foyer. "Do you have a tarp or anythin' waterproof I could use?"

"Yeah, in the storage closet beside my room. Will your bike get damaged if you leave it in the rain?"

"If all it was doin' was sprinklin', then no." Sasori stepped out of the way so Hinata could lead him back to her room even if he already knew where it was. "But considering it's s'posed to come down big time, it might rust over a few parts that I'd rather not have to replace if I don't have to. That it?"

"Yeah." Hinata opened the accordion door and hurriedly looked over the contents of the small closet, eventually finding what she was looking for on the top shelf. She stood up on her toes and stretched her arms over her head, trying to reach the pool tarp that was above her.

"This is takin' too long, Short Stack." Sasori reached over her head and pulled the tarp down, Hinata sinking down a bit to avoid being hit in the head. She crossed her arms across her chest and huffed. He dusted off the bright blue tarp and then looked down on Hinata quizzically. "Why exactly do you have a pool tarp when you live in a free-standin' apartment that doesn't have a yard?"

"Don't you have a motorcycle to cover?" Hinata's eyes followed Sasori as he stormed down the hall until he turned the corner, swearing to himself the entire way. She raised her hand to her mouth, feeling the corners of her lips tilt up into a small smile just as she heard the front door slam shut and the rain pick up outside.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"See, okay. I thought this was the problem you were trying to avoid by coming here early." Hinata fitted the tip of her pinky between her teeth and tucked her thumb under her chin, the rest of her fingers pressed to her cheek. Her blue eyes locked on the man dripping water all over the wood flooring in her foyer.

"Shut it." Sasori shut the door to keep the water that had flooded onto the porch from flowing into Hinata's apartment. "You're lucky I'm above hittin' a woman." He flicked his fingers at her, grinning behind the soaked sleeve of his other hand when she squealed and jumped away from the water. "I wasn't aware your voice went that high Shorty."

"Jerk! I was going to help you out, but maybe you'd rather just stay in your wet clothes instead." She threw a towel at him that she'd grabbed from her bathroom. Sasori sneezed loudly, wrapping the towel around his shaking shoulders. The dark-haired girl's frown slowly changed to a look of concern. "Fine, come with me you big baby." Hinata turned on her heel and headed back down the hall to her bedroom, Sasori's heavy footsteps following closely behind her.

* * *

His room was too hot and he could feel dried sweat cracking on his skin every time he moved. Sasuke sat up, fighting down the bile that tried to force its' way up his throat. He lifted the sheet that covered his waist and cringed when he discovered that he was naked and that the bed beside him was empty. Who did he bring home last night? He decided that he really didn't care so long as she didn't come back nine months later with a kid. He tugged the boxers beside his bed on and stood shakily.

His head was pounding as he made his way to the bathroom. Sasuke chanced a glance in the mirror as he walked by and finally sunk to his knees in front of the toilet and lost whatever food was left in his stomach. He closed the lid and rested his forehead on the seat, fumbling around until he hit the handle and it flushed. "Oh man... So this is why Hinata never lets me drink." He pushed himself to his feet and groggily made his way to the medicine cabinet, swallowed two aspirin dry, then shuffled slowly back to his bedroom.

Sasuke picked a pair of jeans up from the floor of his closet and pulled them on over his boxers. A dry cough racked through his chest and left his eyes watering. He stumbled down the stairs, leaning heavily on the railing, and turned around the corner to his kitchen. He turned the faucet on, foregoing a glass and just drinking directly from the tap. He turned around slowly when he heard a click from behind him.

"What's going on?" His words were slurred, water dripping from his chin. Sasuke's vision was slightly out of focus as he stared straight into the barrel of the gun that was aimed at his forehead. "Inuzuka?" Kiba fingered the hairline trigger and took a step forward, keeping his eyes trained on the Uchiha's face.

"Put your hands where I can see them and turn around slowly. You have the right to remain silent and anything you do say can and will be held against you..." Sasuke's reaction time was slow, but he did as he was instructed, Kiba's voice droning into the background as he locked his fingers together behind his head. Hands pushed him down until his bare chest hit the cool surface of the kitchen counter in front of him. The cold metal of the handcuffs chafed against his skin when Kiba locked them into place around his wrists, his arms behind his back.

The brunette led the larger man out of the kitchen and into the foyer by the front door. Sasuke's eyes narrowed when the red and blue lights flashing through the window on the door burned his retinas. "Kiba. Come on, what am I being taken in for?"

"I can't tell you that. Now I suggest you stay quiet, because I really don't like having to hear your voice. It reminds me who I'm doing this to." The front door opened and several officers rushed into the house, flashing a warrant in Kiba's direction before disappearing deeper into the building. Kiba led Sasuke out onto the porch and down the front steps, the smaller brunette doing his best to keep the stumbling man from falling. Sasuke's face froze in shock at at the police cars pulled up onto his lawn and the amount of officers that had guns trained on him.

Tsunade turned to Shikamaru and holstered her weapon. "Is he drunk?"

"Maybe he felt bad after stealing from his co-workers and decided to drink it off," He said dryly, glaring at Sasuke as Kiba pushed him from behind, the Uchiha managing to fall off of the curb when he was being loaded into the backseat of a squad car.

"Aburame." Tsunade waved her hand and Shino moved forward to relieve Kiba, who immediately turned back to go back inside, a sour expression on his face. The blonde woman flicked a button on her radio and raised it to her lips. "Get him down to a holding room. As soon as we're finished here, I want to be present for his interrogation." She clipped her radio back to her belt and turned to Shino, who was loading Sasuke into the back of the nearest car. "Stay here and keep an eye on everything. Report directly to me if you find anything inside. You, you're coming with me." Shikamaru nodded and followed Tsunade back to her car.

Tsunade slammed the door shut behind her, jammed the key into the ignition and let her forehead hit the steering wheel. Shikamaru shut the passenger door and fastened his seat belt. "You okay?"

"I just don't get it. It doesn't make any sense." Tsunade started the car and took off down the road, the police car carrying their suspect following directly behind the tan Toyota. The car grew silent, the atmosphere tense. Tsunade's phone went off and she hurriedly tore it from her pocket, flipped it open and practically shouted at whoever the poor person on the other end of the line was.

Shikamaru flinched every time his boss replied, each of her words growing in volume until he felt as if he would go deaf if the short conversation lasted even just another minute. Tsunade slammed the phone shut and threw it into the backseat of her car, not even bothering to see where it landed. "What happened?" He asked once they'd stopped at a light and he shrunk back into his seat at the withering glare that was sent his direction.

"The older Uchiha owes me big time, that's what happened. I don't know how I'm going to get Itachi those two weeks now."

"What's going on?"

"They found the phone the email was sent from in his room."

"That could easily have been staged though. I can think of a few ways that someone could've placed it there."

"It had exclusive information from Hinata's file about the Akatsuki on it."

"He's screwed."

. . . . . . . . . . .

End Chapter 7.

* * *

1. Sasuke arrested? A hacker? Alone...? What's going on with all of this? Itachi's involved now that his brother is in trouble? How will Sasuke react to all of this once he finally comes to his senses? Alright, the next chapter will be a continuation from this one. Anyone confused yet? Don't worry, you will be soon.

R & R, Love AMB11


	8. More Than One Meaning

Lots and lots of stuff to do... Let me just squeeze this in! I've had such a busy time lately. School is terrible y'all! I've had to start going to so much more stuff than I ever have before, and I really don't give a fudgenut about any of it. Really annoying...

Oh! I found an author that I absolutely love. They've been on the site for a while, but I just discovered them a few days ago. Check out maravelous. All of her (I assume it's a she! Correct me if I'm wrong.) stories are simply wonderful and I love her pairings and writing style. Just thought I'd mention it!

**Please read the very last thing written at the bottom of this chapter! Tis important my readers! Thank ya kindly~**

**Disclaimer:**

Hinata: This story has got me so confused.

Author: How? You're the main character. You pretty much already know how it's going to end.

Hinata: Well, yeah, but I mean Itachi's going to discover that the agent in the Akatsuki is-

Author: Would you shut the heck up! Now you've gotta do the disclaimer for almost exposing the plot.

Hinata: *sniffle* AMB11 doesn't own Naruto.

Author: No, no. All wrong, needs more feeling.

Hinata: *Starts to cry*

Remember, Sasori still thinks Hinata is Konan, so even if it says something like "Sasori watched Hinata do blah blah blah," it's really a reference to Konan!

* * *

Chapter 8: More Than One Meaning

The sound of the shower starting up behind her automatically made laughter bubble up deep inside of her chest. Hinata leaned back against the closed bathroom door and slid down to the ground. The image of him standing in her foyer flashed through her mind, and she had to bite her lip to keep a stupid smile from lighting up her face. Sasori had looked like a wet rat coming in through the front door.

A drop of water fell from the pile of wet clothing in her hands and was soaked up by the carpet the second it hit the ground. Hinata sighed. Now she would have to do the man's laundry. It was like Sasuke all over again. "Might as well dig up something he can wear."

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Goosebumps ran down the length of Sasori's arms as he waited for the shower to warm up. A sole rivulet of water slipped down his spine from his hair and managed to cause a cacophony of tremors that reached all the way to his fingertips. He wrapped a towel around his waist and leaned back against the counter, trying to calm the shivers that continually racked his body because of the freezing rain. He closed his eyes, but that only made his contacts itch even worse than they had before. "Gah, damn things." Sasori blinked and held his left eye open between his fingers. "This is proof that if you're gonna wear make up, go ahead and buy waterproof anyway. Heh, never thought I'd say that." He wiped at a bit of mascara smudged under his eye.

He dug the contacts out of his watering eyes and blinked to clear the tears, his vision suddenly bad enough to make a bat feel good about itself. "Now I'll have to get my spare pair from my bag, thank God I brought it in with me earlier." The mirror was misted up when he turned around to inspect his much less irritated eyes, and he dropped the used lenses into the trashcan beside the black toilet. Brilliant green stared back at him from his reflection. He turned away.

Sasori peeled the towel from his still damp skin and let it drop to the ground with a huff. He stepped around the shower curtain, immediately being affronted by the onslaught of the hot water. It pounded against his forehead, rolling down his face and neck, willing away the irritating chills that wouldn't quit making their way up his spine.

He heard a door slam somewhere in the house, and a smile made its way onto his face. He didn't bother hiding it.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Are you decent?" Sasori froze at the knock on the door, the bright pink shampoo bottle he'd been staring at skeptically sitting in his hand.

"Uh..." His eyes peeked around the white shower curtain, his red hair dripping water over his shoulders. "Close enough."

The door knob turned slowly. The door slid inward on slightly squeaky hinges and she slipped into the room, leaving it open a crack behind her. "I brought you something that you might be able to wear until your clothes are dry."

Sasori was aware that his face was red, and even though he couldn't see jack squat right then, he just knew that Hinata's was a matching pair. At least he could blame the hot shower, yeah, that's all it was. "Er... Thanks." She set something down on the closed seat of the toilet.

"Do you need me to do anything for you while you're in there?" The red-head nearly dropped the bottle in his hand. "Wait! That didn't come out r-right."

"Got that right, Princess." Sasori let out a slightly shaky breath through his nose and leaned back against the cool tile wall so he could just see out into the room through a crack between the wall and the curtain. He really wished he could see right then. "Well, since you're offerin', I need a couple of things in the bag I brought with me."

"Oh, well I'll just bring you the whole bag then. The duffel in the living room, right?"

"Yeah..." The door slid shut behind her, and Sasori sighed in relief. He rushed through washing his hair, still a little miffed about the floral scented shampoo, and shut the water off.

Hinata had folded the towel that he'd left in a careless heap on the floor and set it on the counter, so he used it to wipe down his chest quickly, then wrapped it tightly around his waist like before. She'd left a plain black t-shirt he automatically knew would be too small and a pair of khaki cargo shorts that were obviously from the men's section of whatever store they'd come from. "Wonder why the hell she'd have these."

"They're my cousin's. He used to visit a lot, so I keep a few sets of his clothes laying around. He's not as big as you are though, so I'm not sure about the shirt." Sasori fought back the blush rising to his cheeks and tightened the knot keeping his towel up with the hand that wasn't holding the khaki shorts. Her eyes ran up from his bare feet to his well muscled chest, and finally to his pale face to meet his gaze. He cleared his throat nervously. Her face was set in stone, but he noticed that her cheeks were lightly dusted in a pretty pink.

"Thanks... Again." She nodded in reply. Hinata set the bag down just inside of the door and backed out with a smile, the door clicking shut gently once she'd turned around. Sasori breathed a sigh of relief for the nth time that day.

Her hand flew to her chest and the other groped through thin air as she tried to find the wall. "God, I think I'm gonna faint." Hinata stumbled down the hall to her bedroom and flopped face first onto her mattress, the headboard smacking against the wall loudly. "I don't know how I kept a straight face." Her heart skipped a beat and she let out another deep breath so it wouldn't leap out of her chest. "And I thought Sasuke was physically fit," she mumbled into her pillow. "I mean honestly, there needs to be a rule against looking like that."

The bed squeaked as she rolled onto her back, her bare feet dangling over the edge. Hinata hugged the pillow to her ample chest. Her purple painted toes brushed the carpet. "Wait." She abruptly sat up, ignoring the large crash and the butchered stream of Spanish swear words that came from the master bathroom down the hall. "I thought Sasori had brown eyes."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Sir, we've had a recent tip off that there's someone that's spying on Akatsuki from the inside."

"I'm aware."

"You... Are?"

"Why do you think I called for the meeting later tonight. We're going to find out who it is."

"So, you don't know who it is?"

"I know that there's more than one person. The Uchiha has been a double agent for years, so that already means there's at least two."

"Wait! Seriously? Why didn't anyone tell me my partner was working against me."

"Would you have done anything about it Kisame?"

"Well..."

"You care too much, but like I said, he's a double agent. He gives me information about anything I need to know, and I give him limited knowledge of the Akatsuki for him to relay to his uncle, the chief of police."

"That's screwed up man. Anyways, do you have any idea who the other person is?"

"Akatsuki is a bunch of sneaks, thieves, and criminals. You tell me which one is the biggest suspect of being a liar."

"Sorry, Boss. That was a stupid question..."

"Absolutely. But, there are a few people I've narrowed my suspicion down on."

"Who?"

"If I told you, you'd have a biased opinion when you all finally meet each other tonight."

"What's the harm in that?"

"It's called a meeting, not a killing."

"...Was that a joke sir?"

"Just get out of my office before I maim you Hoshigake."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"So..." Hinata fingered the hem of her sweater and glanced at the half-naked man sitting on the bed beside her.

"Yeah..." Sasori rubbed at the back of his neck, fingers tangling in the thick red locks on the back of his head. He really wished she'd had a shirt that fit him.

_'This is so awkward... I wish we had even just one thing to talk about to break this tension. I'm going to shoot myself!' _Her eyes caught his, and they both jumped and looked away just a little too quickly.

_'You idiot! Just think of somethin' to talk about. You're scarin' the poor woman. I really suck at talkin' to girls.' _He sighed.

"So..." She repeated, the single small word drawing out the silence between the two young adults even further. Sasori sort of felt like a rubber band.

"...Yeah." He wanted to slap himself. "K-Konan," he cleared his throat when it cracked, "what did you do before you joined Akatsuki?" Hinata felt a slight pang of guilt when he used her fake name. She racked her brain for something that seemed logical, but gave up when Sasori's stare seemed a little too intense after the first few seconds of hesitance.

"I was a receptionist." She inwardly cringed at the hasty reply and the extended bout of silence that followed it. This feeling was getting old really quickly.

"You," his finger prodded her in the middle of the chest, "expect me to believe that you had a desk job, and the Boss would let you into Akatsuki as anything other than the water boy?" Hinata just blinked in surprise. "Alright, if I tell you what I did, will you be honest about what your job was?" Compromise, she could do that.

He continued before Hinata could even nod.

"I was a police officer." Hinata blinked again, her eyes open just a fraction wider than before. Sasori's brown -falsely so if her suspicions were correct- eyes bored into her own fake blue ones, and she suddenly smiled.

"Me too."

"Now that, I'd believe." He hid his unfamiliar smile behind his hand in a way she had already grown used to seeing.

"So..."

"Don't you dare start that again." He'd said it while rolling his eyes, but Hinata laughed anyway. "I broke the first silence, it's your turn, Princess."

"Okay, why do you call me 'Princess' all the time?" Hinata flopped back against the bed and crossed her arms across her chest.

"It's what I used to call my sister, and you remind me of her." Sasori fought back a wince. _'Dammit. Whatever happened to keeping personal business out of this mess?'_

"You have a sister? What's her name?" He saw her eyes light up in interest, and a stab of guilt struck his heart.

"Er, well... I don't really like to talk about her all that much." He hit the bed abreast to its other occupant and he crossed his arms behind his head. "What about you? Any siblings?"

She got a far off look in her eyes. "A little sister, but I haven't seen her in years. I think she's studying abroad somewhere."

"You don't know where?" _'Why the hell am I asking so many damn questions? I'm not supposed to get attached. Something's wrong with me.' _Sasori felt like slapping himself.

"My family isn't exactly close. My father likes my sister better, so I was just kind of thrown off to the side once I was old enough to fend for myself, even though I never really was alone."

"What do you mean?" Hinata jabbed him in the side with her finger.

"For someone who avoids answering every question I ask, you sure like to ask a lot of them yourself." He just rolled his eyes again, an incredibly lazy smirk peeking out from beneath the hand laying across his face.

"Call it a habit, Princess." She rolled her eyes, mimicking him with a smile. He poked her back. "But seriously, did someone take care of you?"

"My best friend. You see, he was living with his older brother for the longest time after both of his parents were killed in a car crash. His brother went AWOL just a few years afterward, about the same time my father dumped me off by myself. We sort of just... Filled in the missing spots in our lives with each other."_  
_

"Sounds like you're in love with the guy." Was that a tinge of jealousy in his voice? Hinata peeked up at the man beside her, but his eyes were closed. She shrugged it off. Sometimes his accent made things difficult.

"You couldn't be any farther from the truth." He cracked an eye open when she laughed quietly to herself. "Once you've lived with someone for years, doing their laundry, cooking every meal for them, practically becoming their mother, there is no way in Hell itself that you'd be able to fall in love with them. It'd be like deciding you wanted to marry the sister you wouldn't tell me about." Sasori poked her again in retaliation. "That doesn't mean we didn't try. I mean, we did give each other a shot, but it was just so awkward."

"How long'd it last?"

"About eight months. Not even once in that time did he try to kiss me or hold my hand, always said he was afraid I'd hit him if he tried." She smacked him when he chuckled, but bit her own lip to keep from joining him.

"S'pose that when you get too close to a person in one sense, it gets hard to suddenly think of them in another way." A quiet beep filtered into the room from down the hall through the open door.

"First smart thing I've ever heard you say Sasori." He felt his chest constrict, and for the first time since he'd adopted it, he felt guilty about someone calling him by his fake name.

Hinata got to her feet and stretched, her shoulder popping loudly. Sasori opened his eyes and glanced at her silhouette; the red sweater that was just a little too long in the sleeves, tight around the chest, and stretched upward when she raised her arms; the jeans that were faded from use and shredded at the bottom from being too long and being walked on; the different shades of purple that adorned each nail on her toes. Sasori smiled.

The floorboards beneath the carpeting squeaked with each footstep as Hinata made her way to the door. "Sounds like your clothes are done. You're probably freezing by now." His eyes followed her as she escaped into the hallway and disappeared, her voice carrying back down to where he still lay in her bed.

"First smart thing, huh? It's a good thing 'partners' has more than one meaning."

"Sasori! Get your ass out here or I'll make you go to the meeting like you are now." Sasori jolted up in bed when she shouted from across the apartment.

"Do you have to be so loud woman?! I'm comin'!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

End Chapter 8.

* * *

1. Sorry about the long wait, but it took me a while to get this just the way I wanted it. Not to mention that I've been busy with a messload of other crap. I hope you liked this! Yeah, heheh... I left ya hanging on Sasuke's end. Probably will for the next few chapters.

2. For those of you that don't quite understand the ending: The term 'Partners' can refer to either the two people working together or as in two lovers. Ever heard of 'Partnered for life?' No? Maybe it's a southern thing.

3. Keep on watch for updates, because I don't know when the heck the next one will be.

R & R much so! The more reviews I get for this, the faster it will be updated. I'm updating according to how much you guys want it! More popular stories get written first. Love, AMB11.


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